


The Tales of The Flash Family (Old Version)

by AceGrace



Category: The Flash (Comics)
Genre: Adoption, Alternate Universe, Angst with a Happy Ending, Comedy, Drama, Elseworlds, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Enemies to Friends, F/M, Family Drama, Family Dynamics, Family Feels, Fan AU, Friendly Enemies, Friends to Enemies, Friendship, Gen, Lee's 52, Lee's Elseworld, Other, Parental Fear, Road to becoming a Hero, Superheroes, Tales Series, Teenage Drama, Tragedy, hero - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-05
Updated: 2016-08-20
Packaged: 2018-02-11 22:07:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 31,970
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2084883
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AceGrace/pseuds/AceGrace
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Allen family's lives start to take unexpected twist and turns after they take in a nephew Iris didn't even know she had. (This version of the story has been abandoned. A new version has/will be put up. That new version will be the canon story to Lee's 52/The Tales Series. Sorry for any inconvenience.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Life of Barry Allen

I’m Barry Allen, the fastest man alive! Always on the go, and I wouldn’t want to have it any other way. I am The Flash! Oh, I’ve been in the super hero business for quite awhile now. Twenty-three years to be exact. Started off when I was nineteen and haven’t stopped fighting the good fight since. I’ve got a good ten years on guys like Batman or Superman. Now don’t you go thinking I’m some old man! Trust me when I say there are even older geezers out there fighting to protect the innocent. Whole generations of our “kind” exist. You see, for every handful of cruel sadistic psychopaths there is always at least one individual who will stand up against the chaos.

 

Now I never planned on being one of those individuals but sometimes fate just won’t let you look away. When that stray lightning bolt made the chemicals in the forensics lab explode that night something inside me changed. I could feel the electricity running through my veins and when I looked around at all these people in need, people reaching out for a hero, I couldn’t say no. There was a serious need for speed. So when these twin cities of mine are under attack, when there’s some so called “super genius” who claim they’re gonna slow me down or stop me in my tracks I say, “Bring it!”. To a Speedster like me, these freaks are just standing still.

 

Oh, but I’m not so full of myself that I won’t give credit where credit is due. Seriously where would I be without Jay? He was the first Flash. When I was just a scared kid with powers I couldn’t comprehend, he came out of retirement - Helped me, and guided me. You’ve got to understand these powers of mine were utterly terrifying at first. For two months I didn’t have anyone to talk to, not a single expert to consult. So when this humbled, kind old man with a spark in his eyes that was so very much like my own came offering to be my mentor, all I could say was yes. Over the duration of that first year I learned how to control and master this gift and eventually he honored me with his namesake.

 **  
**Then of course there’s my wife, Iris, and the twins. You wouldn’t be able to comprehend our surprise when it turned out they were Speedsters like me. Though they aren’t as fast as I am they’re real talented at using their powers to create small tornados. It got to the point where the media dubbed them the “Tornado Twins.” Despite three fourths of us being Superheroes we’re a pretty average family. The twins, Don and Dawn go to school while Iris works as a reporter; Meanwhile I work as a forensic scientist at the Central City Police Department. You know, so I can help people all the time. As long as none of the local maniacs decide to pull a stunt before five o'clock the four of us are home for dinner. I honestly thought this would be how my life would stay until an eleven year old kid in handcuffs was pulled kicking and screaming into the police station one summer’s day.


	2. Meet the Wests

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is where the plot kicks off. There is also a (rather large) Author's Note at the bottom that I hope you read that will help explain some creative choices.

**Disclaimer:** Due to not putting one in the first chapter it gets to live here.

I do not own any of these characters, they all belong to DC.

 

 

Despite the usual gruesomeness that comes with being apart of the Central City Police Department there were still some things that managed to surprise me. Like big ol’ Bats thanking me, or my family not running out of food within three days after grocery shopping, or even finding out the twins did their chores for once in their lives. What was happening right now was another surprise to be put on the list. Yes, kids get taken into the station all the time but never a kid as young as this. Not in these gem cities.

“Will you let me go?! I didn't even do anything!” The boy shouted at Thawne as he lead the boy away.

“You ran.” Thawne said coldly.

“After what you said, who wouldn't?!” The boy retorted. I honestly had no idea about what was happening but to say that my curiosity was peaked would be putting it mildly. Evidently I wasn't the only one interested in the commotion considering how many of my coworkers were gathered round. However, I’m pretty sure I’m the only one who noticed Fred Chyre lead a new man in. The guy Fred had was Caucasian, brown haired and green eyed. It wasn't any of that which caused me to notice him though. No, it was this look of absolute failure on the guy’s face.

Soon they were gone, taken for questioning no doubt. You know that phrase “Out of sight, Out of mind”? Yeah, well that’s what happened to me within five seconds after the commotion ended. I’m a Speedster after all, we’re kinda all over the place in terms of attention span. So I engrossed myself in my work, and boy do I love my day job. Being a forensics scientist means I get to help people almost twenty-four seven. I get to do things to stop the bad guy that I can’t do as The Flash. Things the kids and I miss on our daily patrols. Like catching a murderer just by finding out his or her shoe had residue from the soap the victim used. Just knowing that I was helping someone at all points made me feel that this world was just that much safer and maybe even better.

So engrossed in my work I had become I almost dropped multiple test tubes when my boss, Warren Garfield, started yelling at me from the door.

“Allen come with me, now!” He shouted before stalking off.

Looking over at my fellow scientist Julio I asked, “Am I in trouble?”

Shrugging he said, “I dunno but you should probably follow him before he starts yelling again!” Nodding I ran off, at human speeds, to catch up with the chief. We continued to walk in silence as we went further, and further away from my natural habitat of the lab and entered the unfamiliar area that contained the interrogation rooms. Now I have been here as both Barry Allen and The Flash a few times to get information out of people but the times in which I had been here were few and far between. Honestly, it almost felt wrong being in this part of the station. Not sure why, it just does.

Stopping outside a door that would take us to darkly lit room Warren turned to me, “Do you have any idea why I brought you here?”

“Um… For questioning?” I guessed with a shrug.

Sighing he said, “No…. no that’s not it. Were you there for that commotion this morning?”

“The what? Oh, you mean the thing with that kid!” I said as the odd morning came back to mind.

“Yes, that ‘thing with that one kid’, which just so happens to involve you. Actually to be more correct, it involves that wife of yours.”

“Iris? Wait, what’s going on?”

“Just follow me.” He said as he entered the room. When I walked in I looked at the the only thing I could. Said thing happened to be the man from this morning being interrogated by Thawne, both on the opposite side of the one-way mirror. Pointing at the man the chief asked, “Now tell me Allen, do you have any idea who the man in that chair is?”

Shaking my head I said, “I've never seen the guy until this morning. Why?”

Frowning the chief gave me my second surprise of the day, “This man… is named Daniel West. He’s Iris’ younger brother.”

“What? Wait a second! She doesn't have any brothers!”

“Not willingly it seems.” Before I could question Warren further I heard Thawne speak.

“Why did you run West?”

With a grown Daniel said, “How many times do I have to tell you? I just… I don’t know  I freaked out. Cops usually mess with me all the time. They try saying I did shit I never would even think of.”

Pointing an accusing finger at the man Thawne said, “You. Are. Lying. An innocent man doesn't just run from the police the way you did Daniel!”

“How’d you-I mean, my name is Jensen!” He shouted.

“You moron, can’t you see how deep you've already dug yourself?! We took your fingerprints, we know your real name is Daniel West and not Jensen Smith. That’s just a ‘stage name’ you've been using since you came to Central City.”

“Alright, fine you got me! But with my record what would you do?” Daniel said with a defeated look on his face.

“Speaking of your record, multiple counts of car theft, burglaries, unprovoked assault, and murder.”

“It wasn't murder it was self defense!”

“Sure it was.” Thawne said coldly. Daniel only scoffed at him.

“Let’s get this over with. Did you or did you not steal a white Cadillac Cimarron on July fourteenth of this year from one Casey Albright?”

“I don’t know the guys name but, yes, I stole a car with that description. Can I go court now to see what kind of trouble I’m in?” The man asked sarcastically.

“Did you sell it’s parts for money?”

“Look man I-” Daniel tried to change the subject but it didn’t work. Coldly Thawne repeated himself, “Did you sell it’s parts for money?”

“Yes, alright! I tore it apart and sold the parts to anyone who would take them. ‘I’m sorry’, is that what you want to hear?” Daniel shouted as his frustration grew and grew. Thawne remained stone faced.

 

“The way you describe it you sound like you were pretty desperate to get the money.”

 

Looking to the side Daniel said, “You know us car thieves, always looking for a quick dollar.”

“I don’t think so.” Thawne said skeptically. “Your record shows that you always sold to the highest bidder, but here you’re saying you sold to anyone who would take it. So you’re either lying, or you were legitimately desperate for cash. I have a feeling it’s the latter.”

“Oh, do you have any proof for either of your assumptions.” Daniel asked smugly.

“I think you've been responsible for someone recently and said person happens to have drained more money from your wallet than you were prepared for. So you played your old game, the years between the last time you played to now made you sloppy, and now you’re sitting here with me.”

Daniels face scrunched up in anger for a moment before he leaned back into his seat with a blank expression, “What makes you think I've been taking care of anyone?”

“Are you honestly trying to tell me you have absolutely no attachment with the kid who was with you?!”

“The kid?” Daniel asked with widened eyes. He then chuckled, looked at the ceiling, then back to Thawne as he said, “That kid is like a stray cat. I felt bad for him when I saw him digging through trash a couple of days ago so I bought him a Reuben. Little punk has been following me around ever since.”

“You’re lying again! Stop feeding me all this bullshit and come clean already!” Thawne yelled in his most intimidating voice.

“Fine! Fine… he’s… that kid is my nephew. I've been taking care of him since….” Daniel’s face suddenly contorted into a mix of negative emotion. With a growl he put his face in his hands as he tugged at his own hair.

Realization struck me then, “Nephew? Wait, then that means that kid from earlier-”

“Is also your nephew.” Warren confirmed as he reached to his ear bud and pressed, “Thawne, let’s give this guy a break for now. We should have enough information to put this mess of a puzzle together. We just need to talk to the kid.” Thawne having heard the message through his own ear bud got up and left the room.

Worried I asked, “You’re not gonna let him question a kid are you?”

“Of course not, you are.” He said as he left the room.

Shocked I chased after him, “Me? Isn’t that a bad idea since I’m involved in this. It’s like how you wouldn’t send an officer to stop a robber who killed a family or friends. Couldn’t I end up, I don’t know, compromising the whole case? Ruin our chances to figure out… whatever it is we’re trying to figure out?”

After I entered the hall he turned to me and pulled a case file from the inside of his vest and handed it to me. As I opened the file Warren began to speak, “First of all since he’s your nephew, and the fact that you seem pretty good with kids, I figured you’d be a good choice. Second… well read the news article in there.”

Staring at the file with wide eyes I read aloud, “Emmaline Brady, a thirtytwo year old African American woman, know to many as “Mary”, was found dead by neighbor’s daughter on June third. Her son, Wally West, is missing along with his uncle Daniel West. The boy’s estranged father, Rudolph West is stated to have been seen with his brother and ex-lover multiple times throughout the previous month by neighbors and coworkers.. Due to this it is believed…”, I paused as I gulped for air, “It is believed that the West brothers killed Emmaline and kidnapped Wally. Police ask that the residents of Blue Valley and it’s neighboring counties stay vigilant for any sign of the boy.”

“We just have to figure out who did her in. It was definitely murder. The poor woman’s skull was bashed in according to the guys in Blue Valley.”

“Are you sure there isn’t anyone else who can do this?” I asked.

“Yes, but I feel like it’s in the kids best interest if it’s you. Besides we’re already here.”

“When did that happen?” I thought to myself. “Well, like my mom always said, ‘Nothing ventured, nothing gained.’” Before heading in Warren gave me an ear piece so we could communicate if need be. Slowly, for me anyway, I reached out to the doorknob and turned. When I opened the door I saw the kid who was apparently my nephew, Wally.

Closing the door behind me I went to sit in the seat opposite to his, the small table separating us. I extended my hand and smiled, “Hey there kiddo, my name is Barry.” The only response I got was uncertain eyes. I noticed that Wally had the same green eyes as Iris, but other than that there really wasn’t much similarity between them. Took more after his mother than his father, I suppose. Looking him over though I realized his face was very similar to the mug shot of his father that had been in the case file.

Retracting my hand I told him, “You’re not in any trouble.”

“Then why am I here? Where is here?” He asked.

“You're in the Central City Police Department. It’s safe here.” I explained.

 

“Yeah but why am I here?”

“I’m afraid Daniel hasn't been staying on the right side of the law. For one, he stole and dismantled a car.”

With a confused expression he said, “You mean the Cadillac? But Uncle Danny said he bought the car.”

“Evidently not. Can you tell me why he might have stolen it?”

“We were living in it for awhile.” Wally said sadly. “You know, after he decided we wouldn’t stay in the motel anymore.”

“Do you remember which motel it was?” I asked.

“No sir. He had me stay inside most of the time. Said it was a bad part of town.”

“I see. Would be okay if I asked you something a little more personal?”

Giving me a worried eye he said, “That depends.”

“I was thinking about asking where you’re parents are.”

“I don’t know.” He said quickly.”

A buzz rain in my ear before I heard Warren speak, “Make sure he knows we’re trying to help him.”

“Look Wally, I’m asking you these questions so I can help you. So help me help you, okay?”

“I’ll try… I guess.”

“Alright, when was the last time you saw your parents.”

“Last day of school. I got home and they were arguing about something.”

“They do that often.” I asked.

“Ever since the old bastard showed up mom started getting all pent up. The three of us were happy before he came back.”

“So I take it your dad wasn't around much.”

With a glare he said a simple, “No.”

“Ummm… So what happened after you walked in on them fighting?”

With a shrug Wally said, “She tried covering it up. Gave me money to go to the comic store. When I started heading back home Uncle Danny stopped me. He was carrying a couple of bags. Told me he planned a trip for us and that mom was okay with it. I knew he was lying even before we got on the train.”

“So why’d you go with him?”

With a sadden face Wally said, “I was scared of what I’d see.” We were quiet for a few long moments until he spoke up, “Is my mom dead?”

My breath caught in my throat as I looked at him. His big green eyes looked up at me with the most sorrowful expression I had ever seen on another human being. With much trouble I finally answered him, “Yes, I’m sorry.”

With a hissed intake of breath Wally clenched his teeth. Closing his eyes he buried his face into his hands and wailed. By instinct I got out of my chair and tried my best to comfort the boy. After all, what else could I do?

****  
****

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Flash Fact 1: First appeared in Flash vol. 2, #170 (March 2001) Fred Chyre is a detective for the Keystone City Police. Due to the strong bond between Central and Keystone he (in this story) often gets sent back and forth between the two cities. Today he was working with Thawne rather than his usual partner Jared Morillo.
> 
> Flash Fact 2: Warren Garfield is Barry’s boss in the original Flash live action tv series. I don’t believe he ever made an appearance in the comics but I have never seen any boss figure for Barry in the comics so I chose to use him.
> 
> Flash Fact 3: Julio Mendez is also a character from the first Flash live action series and I decided to throw him in as another mythology gag rather than make up a random name.
> 
> Flash Fact 4: Daniel West, for those who don’t know by now, is the brother of Iris whom was introduced in the New 52 run of The Flash. It’s been stated that he was Wally’s only father figure in the reboot continuity but this, to my knowledge, has yet to be expanded upon.
> 
>  
> 
> A/N: (Please Read) First of all I want to say I’m sorry that I essentially forgot about this story. It was completely unintentional to have ignored it for so long. You see… I had stuff going on and both updating and even writing this story became difficult compared to the three other fanfics that I had going on. Said fanfics being video game AU’s. AU’s themselves being incredibly easy due to the fact that you have a single game of canon to mold it around. Which is much easier than using decades of stories to loosely base your own fan-continuity around. Although, I admittedly do have more fun with this story than I do with my other stories since nothing is set in place and the added fact that I love everything involving The Flash legacy. 
> 
> Also I would like to say that, yes, I am using New 52 Wally’s appearance (except with green eyes) for this fanfic. I am fully supportive of Wally being biracial and as long as DC doesn't portray him in a way that I find extremely offensive I will continue to support this due to genuinely liking his design and finding it progressive the an extent. I of course am a bit behind on New 52 Flash so I can’t make an opinion on anything but his first appearance, and only a few pages of said appearance at that. While there was a part that I can understand people being offended about I have to say that from Wally’s point of view his actions made perfect sense. (You can go on either his New-52 character section spot or “the woobie” section of the ymmv The Flash TV Tropes page if you don’t understand his actions. Which evidently a lot people have chosen to ignore in order to yell at DC about how they’re “ruining everything”.) 
> 
> You can also use the link below if you would like to have a civil conversation on the topic. Before that I would like to note that I will still use his old appearance in some fanfics. However, it depends entirely on the continuity I’m using. For example, a story is centered around, say, Earth-16 (YJA) he will be caucasian, have dark red hair, and have green eyes. (A good example would be a fanfic I already have uploaded, “The Loss of Brotherhood”.) Or maybe Earth-12 (DCAU) in which he looks very similar the Earth-16’s Wally but with blue eyes.
> 
> Lastly I would like to apologize for having such a long Author’s Note. Wally’s new appearance has been very controversial, and for various reasons. This fact made me feel as though I had to explain why the different Wally Wests in my stories will have some differences when it comes to looks. So without further adieu the link.
> 
> http://chloeleerogers1997.deviantart.com/art/New-52-Wally-West-454720797


	3. Welcome "Home"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Don’t fear, this isn't as long as the last note. I just want to apologize about the delay. I currently have five work-in-progress fanfics (including this one) along with the script of my graphic novel to work on. Adding the fact that school just got back in session and I have an internship I've been having a lot of trouble keeping up with the schedule I set for myself. I will try to update this story as much as I can as I truly love the members of The Flash Family. Originally this chapter was going to be much, much longer and I extended it quite a bit further than where it stopped. However, the dialogue past this chapters end felt… not right. I was also having trouble with Barry’s POV so ultimately, and sadly, this chapter ended up being much shorter than I intended. However, I like where it ends and feel that, despite it’s length, it’s good.

“So, this is going to be your room.” I said as I opened what used to be the guest room. I walked in and put the bags down on the bed. When I realized he hadn’t followed me I turned around.

“Okay.” The kid said quietly as he stood in the doorway. Sighing I walked back over to him.

“Look, I know what you're going through is tough. Trust me, I went through something similar.” I said as thought back to my own childhood. Quickly I shook the bad memories from my mind

“So you can believe me when I say it gets easier as time goes on.” Wally just stared at me with a disbelieving look.

“I’m not saying it won’t take awhile.” I added quickly. “I’m also not going to lie and say that it’ll ever stop hurting. What matters is that we keep going. Do you get it?”

He shook his head side to side, telling me silently that he didn’t understand. I sighed again, maybe I should have waited longer to give him that whole spiel. Afterall it’s only been a month. A month of court. A month of Daniel denying he had anything to do with the murder, and still denying. A month of my family getting harassed by just about everyone over the situation. A whole month until we were deemed suitable to take care of Wally. A month that turned up absolutely nothing about Rudolph’s whereabouts even with the help of Batman. Alot had happened in just the span of a month. For a Speedster like me and the twins that was more than enough time to think about things. To understand things that seem impossible. To be able to deal with things that pull at your emotions, to cope. But for people, regular ordinary humans like Iris and Wally, a month didn’t cut it. They would need more time to come to terms with what was happening, and the twins and I would have to slow down enough to help them do it.

“I’m going to go get the rest of your bags, okay?” He nodded.

“You can look around the house if you want.” I told him as I walked out of the room. When I made it to the living room I found that Dawn was already carrying some of the bags in, and by some I mean all. At least two bags towered over her head as she clumsily walked through the house. She waddled, yes waddled, slowly, painfully slowly, past me as she tried to find her way to Wally’s room despite her current lack of vision.

“Dawn, sweetheart, do you need any help?” I asked with a smile on my face. Despite the situation we were in it was really, really hard not to laugh at the way my daughter looked right now.

“No way! I’ve got this!” She huffed boisterously as she continued to stumble down the hall.

“Dawn!” Don yelled as he ran into the house.

Shaking his head when he saw her Don said, “I turned around for one second to talk to Mr.Kane and his daughter and when I looked back Dawn and all his stuff was gone!”

I shook my head, “Why are you complaining? I don’t see the problem.”

“The problem is that she-” He didn’t get to finish his sentence due to an incredibly loud crash. Running, at human speed mind you, we took off towards Wally’s room. When we looked in there were bags everywhere and Dawn was laying on her stomach. I noticed briefly that the carpet was messed up. She probably tripped over it.

Wally crouched down and started poking her head, “You okay?”

Swatting his hand away as she looked up at him and said, “I’m fine really!”

Sitting up she gave Wally a big smile, “See?”, which caused him to laugh. I let a smile cross my face, happy over the fact that at least Dawn had managed to get a happy reaction from him. Iris and I had tried every time we saw him before now and all we ever got were frowns that tried to hard to be smiles.

Pulling him into what was no doubt a crushing hug Dawn asked, “Do you want your totally awesome cousin to help you unpack or what?”

I smiled at the scene. It was going to take a while, and it was going to be hard. We were going to have to keep secrets from Wally, secrets about a big part of us. We were also going to have to try and move at a pace where we could make him feel like part of the family, feel loved. We could do it. For him.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, I'm sorry it's so short!!!


	4. Board Games

It only took about a week out of the two months of my living here to realize how… weird Aunt Iris and her family were. I’m happy that they took me in of course. It’s better than being in some foster home. However, if I were to pick any family in the world I don’t really think it would be these guys. For one, Aunt Iris hates Uncle Danny. I mean the guy isn’t a saint or anything but she seems to think he’s worse than the evil overlords who try to take over the galaxy every other Saturday. Besides, Danny was the one who was there for me and mom, not them. Not that I hate them or anything. It’s just…

Anyway, one thing I can agree with Aunt Iris about is our mutual hatred for my dad, the bastard. All of this is his fault. All of it. I know he did it. God, I wished he never came back. I wish that he was the one who died. No one would have cared. Then I would still have mom, and I wouldn't be here with these strange people.

I know this probably a little repetitive by now but these people really are strange. Dawn, Don and Barry like to disappear randomly. Whenever I asked Iris she would get nervous and say that they went out on errands. She was lying. They were lying, all of them were. It was obvious, I mean come on! How many times do they expect me believe they forgot toilet paper, or eggs, or something completely random and useless from their trip to the supermarket. Today in particular was grating on my nerves. First Barry was rushing out the door.

Looking away from the board game that Iris had practically forced me to play I asked, “Where are you going?”

Stopping so fast the man almost face planted he turned and looked at me with big eyes. Briefly his eyes darted from me to Iris and back at me. “Um… just going to get toilet paper.” Then he was gone, leaving the front door wide open, which Aunt Iris eventually closed.

“Wally it’s your turn.” Iris said with a smile. This was one of the things I actually liked about them, they didn’t treat me like I was glass. They tried to make me feel like I was normal. Like I wasn’t in a situation most other kids were in. However that little happiness they managed to give me was always overshadowed by the confusion these people inspired.

Both Don and Dawn came tumbling down the stairs almost an hour later shouting, “We’re out of toilet paper!”, before running out the door, and like Barry did, they left the door open. I gave Iris a dull look. She responded by chuckling nervously and shrugging her shoulders. Even she knew they were bad liars.

Getting up she made her way over to the door to close it. Taking the chance I turned on the TV before she got back. No offence to her but this game was boring. I ended up regretting the decision.

“Hello, and welcome back to GBS news!” Said the reporter, “I’m Cat Grant and I’m here to bring you a quick update on search for Rudolph West”, she informed as she gestured to a picture of my dad that was behind her, “As many of us know he is a prime suspect of murdering his ex-lover and-”

“Oh my gosh, Wally!” She yelled as she ran to me. Quickly she hugged me and tour the remote out of my hand. I was shaking, and I think I was crying. It was hard to tell but what I did know is that I wanted to be closer to someone, so I hugged her back. She lifted the remote to turn the TV of but stopped when Cat suddenly changed the subject.

“Breaking News! The fight between our cities protectors, The Flash and The Tornado Twins, against their enemies The Rogues seems to have taken a turn for the worse.” Iris lowered her hand and looked at the TV with wide eyes. I looked up at her confused.

“I’ll be letting Lucas Carr take over the report as he’s right there with the action.” The scene quickly transitioned from the blonde woman to a man with longer hair, Lucas.”

“Snapper here and today I bring you some startling news!” The man yelled as he tried talking over a storm. Iris and I jumped from our spots on the ground at the sound of thunder. Heavy rain had now started pelting the window with such force that I thought it would break. Iris hugged me tighter as she stared mesmerized at the TV.

“A fight that originally started between Flash and local Rogue, Heat Wave, went against our heroes favor when two other Rogues, Captain Boomerang and Weather Wizard appeared on the scene!”

The camera than when to shot of The Flash. The Rogues were using diversionary tactics against the scarlet hero, using their powers to keep him at a distance so he couldn’t retaliate. The Flash tried time and time again to get close to the criminals but they kept sending their attacks flying at him. Captain Boomerang kept sending his explosives towards buildings causing Flash to have to catch them, run off to get them away from populated areas and then run back into the fray. During the times where he actually got close either Weather Wizard or Heat Wave would use their elemental abilities to keep him at bay.  

Suddenly two purple blurs came from behind the villains unnoticed. One launched itself into the air with a gust of wind and grabbed the levitating Weather Wizard around the waist and dragged them both down to Earth tearing the storm clouds down with them. Meanwhile the second attempted to charge into Captain Boomerang however the man saw the blur and threw one of his weapon at it, knocking the blur back a good yard.

Iris gasped as the blur hit the ground and rolled several feet before landing. Quickly it stood up to reveal that it was a lean young man in a purple suit similar to The Flash’s. The first blur used it’s wind abilities to launch itself into the air and landed expertly next to Flash. The impact of the launch seemed to knock Weather Wizard out of the fight.

“Fantastic! The Tornado Twins are here!”  Snapper yelled. By now I was just as absorbed in what was happening as Iris but I had a feeling it was for different reasons. I was amazed at what I was seeing. The three heroes were just blurs on the TV but you could tell how well they worked together. As quickly as the chaos started it had ended, and I was awestruck.

Iris let me out of the hug and shook me a little by the shoulders, “Are you okay sweetie?” I looked at her and nodded. She sighed in relief. Suddenly the door slammed open and Barry, Don and Dawn came in with several bags from the near by market placed. Iris huffed and ran up to them.

“Do you three have any idea how worried I was? And how come you guys have so much toilet paper in these bags?! Why would we ever need this much?!” She yelled as she beat her fist against Barry’s chest several times. Barry smiled at her as Dawn laughed her lungs out and Don pinched the bridge of his nose in irritation.

  
Yes, this family is weird, but I’m a part of it now so I should at least try and get used to it. After all it’s probably what mom would want.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: What I love about the DC Universe is that you could have civilians casually talk about how annoying “evil overlords” (or just villains in general) are and it would feel completely natural due to the stuff that they have to deal with every day. Also constructive criticism appreciated. For example, if you've noticed I spell a particular word wrong several times I wouldn't mind if it gets pointed out. Or… well anything really. I always appreciate help becoming a better writer. I’d also like feedback on whether or not you feel I’m handling the characters right. I’m fairly familiar with Barry, Iris, and Wally, however I don’t know much about Don and Dawn. From what I've gather Don is calm while Dawn is fiery.


	5. Session One

I did not want to be here. They dropped me off here, and walked me in and now they’re gone for an entire hour, and they’re doing who knows what and I’m stuck here, having a staring contest with a woman I’ve just met. I tapped my fingers on the arm of the my chair as she did the same to her desk. Unlike me she was smiling, even despite the fact that we’ve been doing this for about five minutes now.

“So, you going to introduce yourself or…?”, I questioned her after another minute ticked by.

“Did your Uncle Barry not tell you what was happening today?”, she asked with a quirked eyebrow.

“You’re a - You’re a child therapist, right?”, I guessed. Barry was horrible at explaining things. He’d start talking, zone out or get distracted by something entirely unimportant, and then forget what he was telling you in the first place. After thinking about it for a few seconds I realized Don and Dawn did the same thing, a lot.

“Psychologist actually, and my name is Dinah Lance in case you were still wondering.”

Tilting my head I asked, “So you just sit with kids and listen to their sob stories all day?”

“Adults as well.”, she confirmed with a smirk. However, her smirk turned to a thin line and she asked, “Do you know why you’re here, Wally?”

“Yeah, but I don’t want to talk about it right now.”, I explained as I looked down at the floor.

“We don’t need to talk about it right away. We can talk about it later, during another session.” Putting her index finger to her cheek she asked, “How about we play a game instead?”

Getting up from her desk she walked over to one of the three cabinets that lived in the room. When she opened the cabinet several toys fell out from their cramped homes on the shelves.

“Please don't make me play a board game!”, I begged when I noticed several slim, brightly colored boxes.

“Okay.”, she laughed, “How about a little Rock ‘em Sock ‘em Robots?”

Excitedly I asked, “You have one?”

She nodded in response. Reaching into the cabinet she pulled out a very battered box. With a smile she pulled out the little plastic arena and brought it to her desk. As she sat down I scooted closer and claimed my robot. I’m not sure how long we were playing. What I do know is that I was having fun, something I hadn’t really done in a while. Ms. Lance made it easy, she was all smiles and jokes and didn’t act like I was a piece of porcelain that would break any second. While I was there I had felt normal for the first time in months. Yes, I felt normal even though I was in my twenty-something year old therapist’s office playing a game from the 50’s. Or was it the 60’s? I didn’t really care either way.

Chuckling Ms. Lance said, “You really seem to like this game.”

Without thinking I blurted out a little sliver of my old life, “Yeah, my best friend, Francis, and I used to play it all the time. The robots weren’t colored right though. Green and yellow.”

“Francis? Is he from Blue Valley too?”

“She, and yeah. Same street even.”, I admitted with a nostalgic smile.

“You miss her at all?” It felt like a loaded question. Her. Her? She could be using her little therapist tricks to get me to talk about my mo--- Or maybe she was implying that Francis and I weren’t just friends. Of course she might not be doing either. She might just want to know if I missed my friend.

After a few moments I swallowed my paranoia and shook my head. She gave me a questioning eyebrow raise. Deciding to give her a vague answer I said, “We’ve kept in touch.”

“I see…”, she said lost in thought. Her eyes ended up starring in the direction of the clock. When she realized what she was looking at she gasped. “Oh geez, we’re five minutes past.”

Quickly she got up and peeked through the door. I could hear her apologize to Dawn and whoever else was in the room. Dawn ignored her and went straight into the room. Before I knew it I was howling with laughter as she somehow slung me across her shoulders. She had done it on my fifth day with the Allen’s and had been doing it ever since.

**  
**She walked out, with me still slung atop her shoulder, waved to Ms. Lance and headed towards the door. Before we exited the building a noticed Ms. Lance writing hurriedly on a notepad as she continued to apologize to a well dressed old man. The geezer nodded and said it was fine, he had a British accent. I also noticed a boy who was younger than me clinging to the old man’s arm. I couldn’t tell if he was naturally that dark skinned or if he was just tan, but I definitely knew he had black hair and blue eyes. Blue eyes that stared at the ground as if it would disappear at any moment. I felt oddly connected to this boy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N 1: So sorry these updates keep taking so long! School + Work + Volunteering + In-The-Works Graphic Novel = VERY little (non-graphic novel) personal time.
> 
> A/N 2: I decided to have Black Canary be Wally’s therapist because of her role in Earth-16 (Young Justice Animated). I just really loved the idea of her being the “school counselor.”
> 
> A/N 3: Yes I did put a needless reference to an Earth-12 (DCAU) throwaway gag by including the little robo-fighters. So not ashamed.
> 
> A/N 4: If you can’t guess who the old man and the kid are, I am disappoint. 
> 
> A/N 5: This chapter was meant to show how therapy of any kind is a slow process. You have no idea how many times I've seen it poorly handled in fanfics. The character (almost always a horribly written, wangsty OC) goes to one session and suddenly their entire, over dramatic and over used back-story no longer affect them. It’s just annoying.


	6. Letters From F to W

From: NotGoingCarrie@MetaMail.com

Subject: Achoo!

Date: April 17 | 7:23 PM

Hi Wally!

Thanks for coming to visit me at the hospital! It really meant a lot to me when I woke up and saw our little bot-punchy-game thing.

I feel really bad that I was sleeping when you came over, but the doctors said It was a good thing. They said my accident seemed to happen from some kind of physical strain or emotional trauma.

I think you might be smarter than them considering you figured out what was happening to me in a week (WHEN WE WERE 9!!!) yet I’ve been here for like, what, a month now? Try and visit soon, k? It’s super lonely here.

* * *

From: Mr.ScienceGuy@MetaMail.com

Subject: WHY!?

Date: April 17 | 8:00 PM

I’m mad at you but not ‘cause you’ve been basically in a comma. I’m mad because you practiced when I wasn’t there! How could you! What if you’re dad didn’t find you! Also why the trashcan? I thought you were sticking to marbles!

* * *

From: NotGoingCarrie@MetaMail.com

Subject: D:

Date: April 17 | 8:30 PM

Sorry!!!xInfinity. D: I didn’t mean to make you worry, please forgive me!

* * *

From: Mr.ScienceGuy@MetaMail.com

Subject: Promise!

Date: April 17 | 8:37 PM

I’ll forgive you if you promise to not practice while you’re at the hospital.

* * *

From: NotGoingCarrie@MetaMail.com

Subject: Promise!

Date: April 17 | 10:40 PM

I, Francis Kane, pledge to my total besty, Wallace Rudolph West:

No practicing until I leave the hospital!

* * *

From: Mr.ScienceGuy@MetaMail.com

Subject: Promise!

Date: April 18 | 2:00 AM

Ugggggggh! Why do you keep using my full name all the time!?

If you want to be fancy, fine…

I, WALLY West pledge to little miss goldilocks:

To come visit her as long as she holds her end of the deal.

P.S. Don’t make fun of me for being up so early like usual. I’ve been doing ~SCIENCE!~

* * *

From:NotGoingCarrie@MetaMail.com

Subject: Hello?

Date: May 26 | 3:00 PM

Wally, where have you been?

You visited me everyday for a long time and now I haven’t seen you in almost a week. Did something happen? Are you okay?

* * *

From:Mr.ScienceGuy@MetaMail.com

Subject: I don’t know what to do...

Date: May 27 | 5:28 PM

Sorry Fanny.

It’s just that my dad is back in town.

You know, the guy who abandoned us when I was two. He came marching in the house, acting like he lives here and that he’s been part of our lives all this time. I didn't know it was him, I thought he was a burglar, so I hit him over the head with one of Uncle Danny’s wrenches.

I probably would have done it even if I knew it was him.

An ambulance came over and a few guys patched his head up. Afterwards he tried talking to my mom but she just screamed and screamed. I’ve never seen her so angry. He keeps showing up too. This whole thing is stressful as all hell.

* * *

From: NotGoingCarrie@MetaMail.com

Subject: [No Subject]

Date: May 28 | 8:21 AM

OMG that’s horrible.

How does he keep “showing up” exactly.

* * *

From: Mr.ScienceGuy@MetaMail.com

Subject: EVERYWHERE!

Date: May 28 | 2:35

Everywhere I go he shows up. I’ll be helping my mom get groceries and then he’ll suddenly be behind us in the checkout line.

Or I’ll be with Uncle Danny at the Auto-Shop and I’ll see him through the window. He just sits on the opposite side of the street, u know, at the bus stop, and just stares at us.

The creepiest thing is I actually tried to visit you a few days ago, but he was standing outside the doors to the lobby. When I saw him I booked it back home.

My mom is trying to get a restraining order.

* * *

From: NotGoingCarrie@MetaMail.com

Subject: Creepy!

Date: May 29 |

Oh, god you should get that restraining order quick. If he knows you’re visiting me he must have been stalking you guys for awhile. You should all carry something with ya in case he tries something.

* * *

From: NotGoingCarrie@MetaMail.com

Subject: Please write back!

Date: June 9 | 9:00 PM

I saw everything on the news!

Where are you and Mr. Danny?

Are you okay? Hurt? Are you even in Blue Valley anymore!?

PLEASE WRITE BACK WHEN YOU GET THIS!!!!

* * *

From: NotGoingCarrie@MetaMail.com

Subject: Miss you...

Date: June 29 | 2:52 PM

I’m finally done with my physical therapy. I get to leave the hospital tomorrow afternoon.

I wish you were here. I hope that you’re safe.

* * *

From: NotGoingCarrie@MetaMail.com

Subject: Waiting

Date: August 12 | 5:41 PM

I’ve been following the news, waiting for you to show up.

They say there’s no trace of your dad. Yes, they’re looking for him. I told a nice police officer about how he was stalking you guys a few days after it happened.

Write back soon so I know you’re still breathing.

* * *

From: NotGoingCarrie@MetaMail.com

Subject: Pretty

Date: August 14 | 9:32 PM

Everything in Blue Valley looked really pretty today. It was one of those weird days where the sun was really bright, bit it was windy and cold.

The kinda day you and me would fly kites with your mom.

I couldn’t get it in the air without using my “gifts”, as you’d call them.

* * *

From: NotGoingCarrie@MetaMail.com

Subject: Signing Off

Date: August 17 | 5:37 PM

I must seem pathetic. Writing someone who might be dead, but I miss you. I hope you’re alright.

Until you write back, I’ve decided to stop sending these. So if you really are alive, please write me soon.

* * *

From: Mr.ScienceGuy@MetaMail.com

Subject: Hi

Date: September 24 | 2:00 PM

I want you to know that I’m alive. Danny got sent to jail, my mom is dead, and that bastard is still free, but I’m alive.

I’m in Central City now. I’m living with my Aunt Iris and her family. They’re nice but really weird. Her husband and my cousins don’t seem all there. They zone out a lot, and they seem to have trouble concentrating on anything for too long.

I would have written you sooner but this is the first time I’ve been near a computer.

* * *

From: NotGoingCarrie@MetaMail.com

Subject: [No Subject]

Date: September 24 | 5:43 PM

I saw it on a news website! I was crying I was so happy! Then I get this message and it seems almost too good to be true. Send me a picture of you so I know it’s really you!

  
I can’t believe it I’m so happy!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: This was loosely inspired by the “W & J Letters” from the game “Rule of Rose”, it’s a great game in terms of story. As for gameplay itself? Eeeeehhhhhh
> 
> They were writing over e-mail because neither of them have cell-phones. The “NotGoingCarrie” and the “Mr.ScienceGuy” thing is meant to be an in joke between Francis and Wally. 
> 
> “Meta Mail” is something I made up for my DC universe. To my knowledge no such thing actually exists.


	7. High School Chemistry

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: We get a look into Don’s head today.

I looked down at the paper in front of me. No less than three hours earlier I had been damning this paper to the pits of hell. In anger I had left it on my desk and went for a run towards Canada. It was embarrassing. I could never get the hang of chemistry. Doing the hands-on labs were hard enough, but the packets? My absolute worst nightmare, and it was how my own father helped make ends meet. Dawn wasn’t much better at it, but at least she didn’t need the layman’s terms to be dumbed down.

So I was understandably surprised when I got home, ready to face the of this impossible task, and the paper was already filled out. I was mad at first. I had thought dad had done this. He had a tendency to take our science homework, and then do it himself out of boredom. The worst part is that he never seemed to realized he was doing it. Usually we were able to erase it, but sometimes he used pen. Which was why I was looking at my homework with a particularly ferocious eyes. However, when I looked at the packet closer I realized something, this wasn’t his hand writing.

Quickly, by a normal person’s standards, he ran down stairs. That was another thing that bothered him. Having to go so slow. Their home had been the one place where the two parts of their lives came together. Now we had to pretend parts of our lives didn’t exist in our own homes. I understood why, but it didn’t make that truth hurt less. I walked down the stairs, passed Wally and Dawn, whom were sitting on the couch, and found myself in the kitchen.

If you’re looking for a Speedster, the kitchen is a good bet. Of course, there was my father, stuffing his face while he worked on his laptop. I handed him the suspicious paper, the silent question clear on my face. Without thinking he used his powers and looked through the seven page packet within a few nanoseconds. He nodded with a smile before returning to his own work. Everything in the packet was right. If there was one thing about my father that I knew for sure, it’s the fact that he can be shockingly unobservant for a forensic scientist. He didn’t even realize it wasn’t mine. Although, I suppose he can’t notice everything.

 **  
**Before going back to my room I stopped under the archway that connected the living room and the kitchen. Looking at Wally I smiled, because I had just found out something important about my little cousin.


	8. From Us to You Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Dawn’s POV!

No, no, no, no, no! This wasn’t happening! Not now! Why, out of all the times the Rogues had to show up it was when Don and I were doing something important? Quickly we ran off in opposite directions, finding some place to hide while we changed personas. Once I was sure I was in an area where no one, and no security cameras were, I hit the tap on my silver ring. In a rushed chaos that only a Speedster could keep pace with a sleek black, purple, and white suit erupted from my ring. Quickly I spun, using my speed I changed out of my civvies and into my supersuit.

To the naked eye I had been enveloped in a purple cocoon and emerges looking completely different. Like a butterfly but infinitely more awesome. ‘Cause let’s be honest, if you had to choose between a Superhero or a butterfly you’d probably pick the hero. I tugged the black cowl over my head, internally thanking myself for getting a pixie cut, and ran back where the battle was taking place. When I got there I saw my brother get blasted by Abra Kadabra’s “magic.” He was sent flying, his backpack blown straight off his back. I dived for it.

Catching it looked over at my brother who glared from the fountain he had landed in. Returning the glare I shouted, “It’s not my fault you brought it into battle!”

Grunting he summoned a tornado, and launched himself out of the fountain, splashing me as he went. Shaking the water off of myself I grumbled, “Big baby.”, remembering all the times he had gotten hit harder.

As he plummeted towards the ground he attempted to land on Kadabra, only for the man to roll out of the way. Using this to my opportunity I used my speed to ram into him, causing him to shoot across the room and through a shop window. Whoops.

Running to stand at my side Don said, “At least we know the mall has Hero and Villain Insurance, yeah?”

“Yeah.”, I repeated as I watched the shop window. When I saw a blaze of light coming for us I shot a pair of small tornadoes from my hands. This had two effects, getting Don out of the way, and unintentionally catapulting myself to the second floor of the building.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!”, I screamed as both myself and the bag spun in the air. As I was about to land I grabbed the bag from the air and protected it from the harsh mistress that was gravity.

When I landed it was on my feet, causing a small crater where I stood and small bits of electricity to erupt from my feet. I leaned over the glass fencing to see my brother. He ran around the false magician in a purple blur, persistently spinning the man around and around. Seeing what he was doing I ran into the lone sports store and grabbed some rope from the mountain climbing section, and in just a few seconds I was back on the first floor. Effortlessly we worked together, him grabbing one end of the rope while I held on to the other. Within a moment Kadabra found himself tied up and wobbling on his toes for balance. None was found and the mans face met the floor as the “wand” rolled away from. Angrily I stomped on it several times, each impact revealing more wires, and technological brilliance. A brilliance I cared nothing for as I held the bag firmly to my side.

Grabbing my upper arm Don pulled me away from futuristic man. I cussed and screamed at the unconscious man. Not only did he attempt to hurt all these people but he almost broke our cargo. Oh, and he ruined our day out with Wally. That was the worse part. I could see it in the kids eyes, he didn’t feel normal. Today, though? Yeah, he had clearly felt like a normal kid for a few hours. Don and I had done that. We were finally able to help him have some real fun. Of course, the “Gem Cities” as they’ve been called are anything but normal, and neither are Don and I. The universe just couldn’t give us a break it seemed.

Shaking my shoulders to get my attention Don whispered something to me.

“Where’s Wally?”

**  
**My eyes widened and, appropriately enough, we ran as we tried to find our little cousin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: One internet for anyone who get’s the pun that I unintentionally (at first) put in here. Although you might not get it if you’re American, since the series has a different name here than in other countries. On a more serious note, four chapters?! Yup, ‘tis be Christmas Break which means I finally had some free time. They’re smaller than some of the previous chapters but I rather like them. This chapter was meant to show Dawn as one of those protective big sister archetypes, as she puts anything to do with Wally as high up there as preventing civilians from getting hurt. Not sure if I portrayed that very well if I’m honest.


	9. From Us to You Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wally’s POV
> 
> A/N: After this chapter I’m switching to third person so the story telling flows better. Originally this entire story was going to switch between Wally and Barry’s POVs but since I added chapters featuring the twins POVs I realized that it might get confusing after a while.

I ran as fast as I could. People shoved and yanked and nearly knocked me down several times but I kept running. In this world there are a few different kind of people. The super heroes, the villains, and the civilians being the main ones. I was in the third group. I don’t have powers, I don’t have training, I’m just a regular joe who’s smart enough to run when a villain shows up. When I got out of the mall I desperately looked around for my cousins, but the crowd pulled and pushed me further away from the once peaceful building.

I was lost. I didn’t know Central City very well. Sure I’d been here for a few months already, but it was a big town, and I mostly stuck near my Aunt’s house. Someone in the crowd shoved me roughly. Stumbling I fell into the road. I screamed as a car swerved to avoid hitting me. A strong hand grabbed me by my shoulder and pulled me out of the way of another car.

“Kid, what do you think you're doing laying in the road like that?!”

Looking up I saw that face. The same angry face that had taken me into the station. The same one that separated me from my Uncle Daniel. I don’t know why I did it, maybe I was scared, or... angry? Whatever the reason was I sneered at the man and stomped on his foot as roughly as I could manage. He yelled in pain, and when he let go of my arm to grab his own foot I booked it. I ran into a large building and fell to my knees as I tried to catch my breath.

Panting I said to myself, “If I… ever… run again… it’ll be too soon…”

“Hey, kid!”

I looked up at the voice in surprise. There, behind a desk, was a receptionist. I backed away from the woman when she fixed me with a glare.

“You gonna pay or what?”

I blinked at her for a moment, and then asked, “Is there a payphone I can use nearby?”

“There’s one on the second floor, but if you want to get into the Museum you gotta pay like everyone else.”

“How much?”

“Ten dollars for someone your age.”

Reluctantly I handed her the twenty that Uncle Barry had given me earlier. She took the bill and exchanged it for two fives. When I asked her if I could have a dollar in quarters she fixed me another glare. Snatching one of the fives out of my hand she reopened the register took out four ones and practically threw the quarters at me. Her coworker gave me an apologetic look as she wrapped a paper bracelet around my wrist.

Scratching at the bracelet as I walked away I mumbled, “Worst customer service ever… Of all time.”

When I walked into the main section of the building I almost tripped on my own feet. Looking around at the colorful displays I gawked. This was unbelievable. Why was this a thing? A few younger kids who were standing by a display looked over at me when I talked next.

“They have a frickin’ museum?!”

The younger kids laughed at me, before the only girl in their group spoke up, “Well, duh! The Flash Family are like… the best hero group ever!”

“Flash… Family,” I repeated. Thinking to myself I laughed, “They actually call themselves that?”

Forgetting what I was originally doing I walked around the museum, taking everything in. There were costumes of rogues I’d never even heard of here, and dates. The costumed mannequins acted as a form of memorial for rogues that had died. I stopped for awhile and looked at the display for Atom Smasher, Manfred Mota.

I read the plaque aloud, “Manfred Mota was a nuclear engineer during the Cold War. Using the terror of the American population and his own mind he embarked on a crime spree. The first Flash was able to stop him, and he now resides in Iron Heights.”

“Yeah, he was a nasty piece of work,” said a voice from behind me.

Looking over my shoulder I saw an elderly man smiling down at me. He was your average old man by all means. Wrinkles, a liver spot or two, very gray, balding hair, and clothes one could only associate with an old person. However, something seemed off about him, I just didn’t know what.

“I remember how much fear he caused everyone during that time. I was younger, still running like it didn’t matter. He was probably one of my-” he cut himself off.

“One of your what,” I asked with genuine curiosity.

“Greatest fears, I suppose. Living in a time where your best friend would try to peg you as a Soviet spy just because you slipped on your words can make a lunatic like this man seem ten times scarier than he probably was.”

Looking around at the museum I wondered aloud, “There were superheroes back then too right? I mean, the slaque says there was a Flash then.”

“Ah, yes. There were plenty of heroes back in the day. Not as much as there was then, but plenty nonetheless.”

“So people were probably trying to say they were spies too, right?”

The man laughed, “All the time. You couldn’t go a single day without a newspaper claiming that those good samaritans were secretly evil as evil can be. They especially went after the Justice Society.”

“Don’t you mean ‘League’, mister?”

“One, no. Two, you can call me Jay, if you’d like.”

“Oh, right, sorry. I’m Wally by the way. So who were the Justice Society?”

The man laughed again, and lead me upstairs. Now, I know following a stranger around is typically a bad idea, but let’s be honest with ourselves. I’m probably safer sticking with someone than I am if I just wander around aimlessly in a crowd of people I don’t know. Besides, given the vest the old ma-Jay was wearing, he’s probably a tour guide to begin with. Once we reached the second floor he took me to a display case. I marveled at all the brightly colored suits.

“These were the costumes worn by the Justice Society. The team, when it was first formed, consisted of not only the first Flash but also Earth’s first Green Lantern, the first [Thanagarian](http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Thanagarian) to take up the name Hawkman, and the first Black Canary.”

“The Flash costume looks really weird,” I interrupted.

Jay laughed, “I suppose it does look quite different than the one you’re used to.”

After his laughter died down Jay continued, “The team also consisted of Hour-Man, The Spectre, Sandman, Atom, and Doctor Fate.”

“I haven’t heard of any of those guys, except for Doctor Fate.”

“Yes, well, Hour-Man, Sandman, and Atom haven’t had any successors, I’m afraid. Neither has Doctor Fate, but he’s still fighting the good fight it would seem.”

“He must be old,” I reasoned, but then the dark green cloak caught my attention, “Hey… what about The Spectre?”

A deep frown etched it’s way across Jay’s face, “I can’t say for sure. Whatever the case, the world is probably better off without that man.”

“Why?”

“The Spectre was a very violent vigilante. He was never able to see or understand the grey areas of life. People were either good, or they were evil, never anywhere in between with that man.”

I quirked an eyebrow, “You talk about him… like you know him.”

Jay almost choked on air as he began to ramble, “Oh, well I… Um, I-I did to an extent. My wife, Joan, was a reporter way back when. She interviewed the man several times.”

I nodded my head despite not fully believing the man. I pointed to the green suit that once belonged to Sandman and asked, “Did this guy have powers?”

I took a long look at Jay as he gazed at the costumes and spoke.

“No, and neither did Atom.”

There was something in his eyes that was different.

“So what could they do,” I asked.

Something about the way he stood.

“Well, Atom was a very skilled fighter. Sandman on the other hand was a pacifist.”

“How can a hero be a pacifist if they're fighting all the time?”

Something about his aura.

“See that gas mask? It wasn’t just for show. Sandman was a hero of stealth, so he’d often save the day without even being seen by his enemies. He’d work behind the scenes.”

Something that reminded me of Francis.

“When he did get caught he’d just knock his enemy out with this gun that emitted sleeping gas.”

Something that reminded me of… Dawn, Barry, and Don.

“Wally! Oh my gosh, Wally!”

Suddenly I found myself crushed between my cousins. They were both shouting and laughing hysterically, and I think they might have been tearing up a little. They only let my feet touch the ground when I told them I couldn’t breath.

“When we realized we got seperated from you we were so worried,” Dawn shouted.

Calm now, Don asked, “Are you hurt at all?”

“No, I’m fine.”

I turned around as I spoke, “This guy was just showing m-” but cut myself off when I noticed Jay was nowhere to be found.

“What guy,” Don asked with a concerned look on his face.

Given what I had seen today, and my own deductions, I couldn’t help but blurt out, “I think I just met the first Flash…”

Don and Dawn looked at each other with shocked expressions. Then they turned back to me and started laughing nervously. It was the kind of laugh I usually let out when I’m trying to hide something but can’t keep my cool.

“Don’t be silly, Wally! The first Flash was first seen during World War Two. He’d… Well, he’d have to be long dead by now!”

“Y-Yeah! Donnie’s right! But I’ll totally give you ten points for being so awesomely imaginative!”

They both linked one of their own hands with one of mine. My cousins, Don on my left, and Dawn on my right, then lead me out of the strange museum, eager to get me home. I didn’t say anything when their hands shocked me a little, because by now I was used to it. I was used to a lot of weird things now. I was used to Uncle Barry disappearing for days on end, because a friend out of state apparently needed his help. I was used to Don and Dawn themselves pulling vanishing acts. I was used to seeing Aunt Iris being on the news, and putting herself in danger just to keep people informed. I was used to going to therapy sessions where I would talk to a woman for a few hours. A woman who wanted me to talk about how much of a mess I really am over what happened to my mom. A woman who kept insisting that my Uncle Danny was in jail because of his past crimes, not because of the one horrible, unforgivable crime everyone knew my own father committed. A woman, and Uncle, and Aunt, and two cousins, who insisted that he’d be brought to justice eventually.

So, yeah. I was used to many, many things that someone my age probably shouldn’t find normal. However, there is one thing I’m not used to. The feeling of guilt, which was caused by the fact that I was suspicious. Suspicion towards Barry, Dawn and Don, and towards the old man I just met. I’m not sure if my theory is true, but there is clearly something going on with the Allen family.

* * *

When we got home Dawn and Don gave me a chemistry set that they bought without me noticing. The box was all banged up and several beakers were broken, but I appreciated it nonetheless.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Can I just say how much I adore the Justice Society. Just a bunch of a cool old people (and some young ones, though they tend to be a minority) saving the world. That’s like, wow, that’s my non-music jam you guys!


	10. Barry's People

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Keeping to my promise the story will be third person from here on out. Also I’m finally world building a little!

Barry Allen sat at a large table within a restaurant as he waited for his teammates to arrive. It felt strange to say the least. The only person he was used to seeing in civvies was Black Canary, Dinah, and that was only because she was Wally’s therapist. The added fact that this wasn’t the Watchtower only added to the surreality of what was happening. He nearly jumped out of his seat when someone tapped him on the shoulder.

“Calm down Barry! It’s just me,” the Kryptonian said as he sat down next to the Speedster.

Shaking his head Barry admitted, “Sorry son, this is all a bit weird for me,” and it was. Barry had gone many, many years as the only young superhero. Now the man found himself as the link between two generations of heroes. It was odd to say the least.

“I know, and can you quit the “son” stuff? You’re not that much older than me.”

Barry laughed at the man. Superman… no, Clark, was only about twenty three. Meanwhile Barry himself was getting close to his forties. Add the fact that Barry perceived time differently, and the fact he was ten years the Kryptonian’s senior when it came to vigilante work, Barry felt much, much older than Clark. When Barry finally managed to stop laughing at Clark’s comment he began laughing at the other’s clothes.

The man was dressed in a well used, and somewhat cheap looking suit. He genuinely looked like he had hopped out of the 1930’s. The thick rimmed glasses didn’t help any. Barry knew why Clark wore the glasses. Something as simple as glasses and posture change could make someone look completely different, and if anyone had it down to and art, it was Clark. The way the farmboy carried himself as Clark versus how he did so as Superman must have definitely helped keep his charade up.

A female voice from a little away spoke up, “Someone’s cheery today.”

Turning in his seat Barry looked at the rest of his allies, at least the ones he trusted with his name. Green Arrow, real name Oliver, Dinah, both Green Lanterns John and Hal, Wonder Woman, also known as Diana Prince, The Question, real name Victor, and who he could only assume was Martian Manhunter. He had never seen the alien’s chosen human form, so it was a surprise for Barry to see him. At least he thought it was him.

Quirking an eyebrow at the man Barry hummed, “Um… J’onn?”

The man nodded with a smile and Barry smiled back. Their group quickly seated themselves around each other. Barry almost laughed when he realized it was in the same order that they sat in when they were all in the mess hall of the Watchtower together. Diana, J’onn, Clark, and I sat on one side while both the Green Lanterns, Ollie, and Dinah sat on the other. Victor, ever the paranoid man, sat so that he was in the walking space. The man was always ready to jump at the first sign of danger. There was two people missing however.

J’onn’s empathy allowed him to know exactly what Barry was thinking. He looked over at the Speedster with a frown and said, “Bruce and Kate will not be attending today.”

“Shut ins,” Hal snarked.

John whacked him on the back of the head, “Mind your manners! You know that it’s that time of the year. Can you really blame them for not coming?”

“Sorry, sorry! It’s just, they didn’t really open up to us for a long time. I forget about their… Um, their problems sometimes.”

Ollie tapped his finger on the table before he tried to lighten up the mood, “So, how ‘bout that Yankees game last night?”

“The Yankees are horrible,” Barry shot without thinking.

Standing up in fake anger the archer pointed at him, “You, shut your mouth!”

“Nope,” Hal interjected, “for once I’m agreeing with Barry.”

“Traitor,” Ollie spat dejectedly as Clark tried to contain his laughter. Dianna looked over at Clark in confusion as Dinah rubbed the bridge of her nose. J’onn broke in, acknowledging the elephant in the room.

“How have the children been fairing.”

Clark abruptly stopped laughing and looked over to Ollie, who looked over to Barry. The Speedster groaned, hating that they were forcing him to go first. Barry awkwardly rubbed the back of his head, trying to think about what he should say. As the man thought Clark took off his glasses, and rubbed the lenses absentmindedly with his shirt. Ollie looked away from the Speedster and towards the ceiling. As Barry was about to answer J’onn the waitress came over.

“Are you all ready to place your orders?”

Quickly we listed off what we wanted one at a time. When it was Barry’s turn the waitress gave him a funny look at the sheer amount of food that he had ordered, “Are you…”

Victor jumped in defensively, “He’s very serious.”

The girl nodded and walked away in confusion. Before Barry had the chance to tell Victor he didn’t need to have done that, J’onn spoke up.

“None of you have answered me yet.”

Barry sighed, “Dawn and Don are doing fine, they’ve gotten really attached to Wally actually. There’s this one thing though…”

“And that would be?”

“Don… Lately he’s been very hyper analytical of everything, and Dawn has been more… volatile towards the rogues.”

“Perhaps that’s a good thing,” Victor interjected.

Ollie folded his arms, “Here we go.”

In a hushed voice Victor continued, “Barry, you have been fortunate enough to attain something the rest of us haven’t. Enemies that are willing to negotiate. They are willing to talk to you in a middle of a battle and you a fortunate enough to have a gift with words.”

“I’d beg to differ,” Hal said as the waitress came back with their drinks. Victor sat back in his chair, waiting for the waitress to leave. When she was out of sight Victor continued speaking in this odd, hushed tone.

“As I was saying, you’ve been lucky. Very lucky. However, I fail to understand how you can’t acknowledge that this could change. If your son doesn’t analyze every detail, and if your daughter were to fail to act with aggression when needed, they could die.”

“Excuse me,” Barry shouted, not believing what he was hearing. He felt insulted that Victor would even imply he’d let his own children get hurt.

Putting a hand on Barry’s own Dinah began to talk, “I think what he’s saying is, ‘It’s their way of protecting themselves.’ You have words, maybe they just have strategy and brute force.”

Diana lifted up a butter knife absentmindedly as she interjected, “I don’t see how those are worrying qualities. In fact, they’re good qualities for a warrior to have.”

“Yeah, well,” Barry began to say something, only to stop when he saw their waitress, and a few of her coworkers, walk over with their food.

The members of the League struggled to fit all the plates on the table. It was a large table but considering that the others had a meal to themselves, and that Barry had five to himself, fitting all the dishes and drinks was difficult. As John moved Hal’s plate to make room for his own he joined the conversation.

“What about the kid?”

“Who? Wally? He’s coping as best he can, I guess.”

Dinah interjected, “He has some problems to iron out, but given what he went through, that’s understandable.”

Barry shrugged awkwardly. He trusted his teammates, really, he did. However, he didn’t feel he had the right to talk about Wally’s problems, even despite being his parental guardian. He sent Dinah a thankful look before he started to shovel his food into his mouth. As he did so he could feel a slight tingle in the back of his skull. He glanced over at J’onn and nodded, answering the Martian’s question.

The usually green man proceeded to draw the attention off of Barry, “What of you Clark? How is your younger cousin fairing?”

The reporter choked on his apple pie out of surprise. Diana was quick to react, hitting his back roughly. Clark quickly brought a napkin to his mouth as he spat the offending piece of food out. By now Hal and Ollie were in hysterics over the Kryptonian’s troubles. Clark shot the a glare before turning to J’onn.

“She’s okay I suppose. Kara is learning English well enough, but the new environment is a bit much for her. When I told her about what happened… Well, she didn’t take it very well.”

He looked down at his plate, “Honestly, I’d be acting the same way.”

Scratching the back of his head Ollie said, “Wait, am I the only one out of us three who isn’t having trouble with my kids?”

Barry scoffed at the man, “Trust me, if you don’t have problems now, you’ll have them later.”

After this the conversations became much lighter. The heroes joked, and spoke of nonsensical things. They had a good time, they felt normal for a little while. But then they parted ways as they always do. They were ready to defend each other tooth and nail the next time they found themselves on the battlefield together.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N2: So, the thing I never understood with DC fanfics is why no one (at least from the ones I’ve read) ever portrays the League altogether in their civilian live. And so this chapter was created!
> 
> Also, am I the only one in the world who loves the idea of Barry being way older than the other Leaguers, but still being a massive kid at heart?


	11. Summer of 2001

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: In Chapter 4 Wally mentions that he’s been with the Allen family for two months. Chapters 5-7 all take place during those two months. He wasn’t allowed to go and live with them for about twenty eight days, so this is about three months after his mother’s death. I thought up all that stuff after posting Chapter 4 and never bothered rearranging them. I’m busy OK. Chapters 8-10 take place at about the same time as this chapter.
> 
> A/N2: You may notice that I’m beginning to integrate some stuff from various continuities into this AU, such as things from cartoons and live-action shows/movies. This is to give the characters more depth.
> 
> A/N3: Sorry for the overall lack of Dawn and Don (especially Dawn), I’ve been trying to establish their characters but the story has been pretty Wally, Iris and Barry centric so far, and it's been hard to work them in. Once Wally changes I’ll try and give them individual chapters so we can learn more about them.So far their characterizations have been more tell than show, which I’m hating myself for. It’s just that writing them is kinda hard, since there isn’t much continuity to go off of in terms of personality. I’m honestly surprised more people don’t know about Don at the very least since he’s Bart Allen’s father in the comics. Anyway, like I was saying they’re rarely used as characters in the comics so it’s hard to get a good grip on their characterizations. Because of this I’m practically writing OC’s, which as I’m sure some of you know is hard when you're working with pre-established characters. If you guys could give feedback on the twins and what you think that would be cool.

Wally remembered the first time he’d seen his new room. It had originally been a guest room that either Dawn or Don’s friends would stay if they spent the night, but they had given it to him. The boxes of his things were strewn about in the room, unopened. He sighed in discontent. It was a surprisingly large room which was nice, he guessed. The paint was an ugly green which he knew he'd have to get used to. The room also smelt of cleaning products, evidence that his relatives had been forced to rush in order to make it presentable.

 

He was startled from his examination when Iris put a warm hand on his shoulder, “You ready to unpack?”

 

Wally looked at her, warm smile, rust red hair, and pity in her eyes. He didn’t like that combination. He also didn’t like that he was here. More than anything he wanted to be back in Blue Valley, in his little two story wood house with it’s large backyard and purple front door rather than this three story brick house that lacked a yard, and was surrounded with houses that looked just like it on the awkward slope of a hill. He wanted to yell at these strangers who were trying to say that they were his family, but hadn’t even made their existence known until _after_ tragedy struck.

 

Wally had known about Iris. His Uncle Danny never shut up about the woman. He always went on and on about how wonderful she was and how much he hated the man she married, Barry. Danny’s stories were the only real reason Wally knew this woman existed. She never visited, or wrote any letters, or even called. For his entire life Iris West-Allen had been nothing but a ghost. Except now she wasn’t. She was here and she kept looking at him with that expression, and using a voice that a mother would use to soothe a toddler. Not only was it patronizing but it unsettled him because it reminded Wally so much of his mother, but she _wasn’t_ his mother and he hated her for it and he just wanted to… go to sleep.

 

“Can we do this tomorrow,” he sighed, “I really just want to go to sleep.”

 

She kept the same warm, fake, smile and nodded in understanding.

* * *

  


The eleven year old Wally had begrudgingly agreed to another session. This, he was sure, would lead to him attending many other sessions. He stared up at the ceiling of the dim room, the sunlight that seeped through the cracks of the window blinds making the little specks of dust floating in the air visible. There was also a notable stench that hung in the air. Not a bad one, but he found the fact that he couldn’t identify it annoying nonetheless. Wally waited for the woman to say something. To start the meeting so that he could get it over with. It’s not that he didn’t like Ms. Lance - It’s just that he really didn’t like this whole process.

 

“Would you say you’ve started adjusting yet?”

 

Wally squinted his eyes, feeling that that was a weird question. The pause he took to do this wasn’t long. Just a second in fact.

 

“I’m going on my third month,” he said plainly.

 

“Time doesn’t always factor into these kinds of things,” Ms. Lance noted as she finished tying her hair back into a bun. Wally just gave her another look, this one devoid of emotion.

* * *

 

“C’mon baby cuz, can’t I see your smile?”

 

Dawn was trying to cheer him up. She was _always_ trying to cheer him up. Trying to help him pretend nothing was wrong even though everything was. She had good intentions, but sometimes good intentions make things worse.

 

“Please, can’t you smile for me?”

 

So Wally did. He tried anyway. If anything he had given her a faux stretch of the lips. Dawn was unaccustomed to such a sight, and understandably misread it. How could she not? She hadn’t lost what he had.

* * *

 

The three year old squealed with laughter as his uncle tried to catch him. The little boy dove under the table, crawling on his belly towards his mother. The woman laughed into her coffee as the boys played. Her little one began to tugged on her slipper clad feet while demanding help though giggles. The man let out a boisterous laugh as he pulled the chair away from the table so it no longer created a barrier between himself and his nephew.

 

Crouching he grabbed the small boy by the waist and started wiggling his fingers, “No one evades the tickle monster!”

 

Wally looked out the window of the guest room, because this wasn’t his room no matter how much Iris and Barry insisted, and sighed. Iris and Barry were at work. Dawn went to her baseball summer group. Don was in summer school… of his own volition. It wasn’t that Wally didn’t like school it was just that he never thought of summer as a time where you should be doing traditional learning. Summer was the type of time where you hang out with your best friends and a new kid shows up because he’s spending the summer with his or her grandpa and he or she teaches you and your friends some kind of life lesson you can’t learn in school. Except this wasn’t some early 90’s family flick. No matter how much Wally wished it was.

 

He banged his head against the windowsill lightly. He did that a lot when they weren’t home. Their home, not his. He was hoping that if he hit his head hard enough he would wake up from this nightmare. Wally stopped in his efforts when he heard laughter below him. Running up the slanted sidewalk was a girl about his age. She had dirty blonde hair that were tied back in pigtails. Chasing after her was a black-haired boy wearing a baseball cap. Just two friends playing with each other.

* * *

 

“Wally, why are you holding a soup can?”

 

Francis was giving him an odd look. They were eight, and as usual both had snuck out their bedroom windows and snuck out into the woods. A short distance away from their houses there was a treehouse. It was an old creaky thing, but they had made it theirs. They brought toys, and trinkets, and other household objects. It was their own house away from their parents and his Uncle Danny. It wasn’t that they disliked their adult family members, far from it. It just so happened that said adults didn’t exactly like each other. So, when they weren’t at school and couldn’t just say that they were forced to be around together they came here. Away from prying eyes. This had more uses than just being able to play together.

 

“It’s empty,” he explained. The look on her face just grew more confused. He shook his head, “We can use it to play catch… with your brain.”

 

“Oh,” she nodded, her violet eyes lighting up with excitement. Wally made a false motion to throw the can. Then another, and another, watching her head bob up and down to match his movements. Assured that she was paying attention he finally tossed it into the air. Francis extended her hand to catch the can, except it never came to her. Within the matter of second she had changed. Strand by strand her hair began glowing a bright, magenta color, her violet eyes glazed over into a monochrome sky blue. The can stayed there, floating in the air as it was covered in a plasma looking magenta viel. Giggling she moved her hands forward, and tossed the can back to Wally.

* * *

 

Ms. Lance opened a notepad, “Let’s do some word association.”

 

Wally just shrugged in reply as he continued to lay on the chaise longue. She smiled at him sadly as she spoke once more, “Apple.”

 

“Tree,” he shrugged.

 

She quirked an eye at this, clearly not getting the reference. She continued on after a short pause, “Blue.”

 

“Francis,” he said before he could stop himself.

 

Ms. Lance tapped her pen against the edge of the clipboard, “That’s your friend right? What about blue reminds you of her?”

 

“Um… we’re both from Blue Valley, she always wore blue. I don’t know, a lot of things,” he shrugged.

 

“Right… Hmm, time?”

 

Wally chuckled, “Wasted.”

 

“Very funny,” the blonde grinned before continuing, “Star?”

 

“Moon?”

 

“Dream?”

 

Wally flinched a little. The brief movement most notable in his narrowed eyes. He took a few moments to think before he shyly spoke, “... Nightmares.” Ms. Lance nodded before scribbling on the paper. As she continued to write she continued to say more words for him to respond to.

 

“Comics?”

 

“Distraction.”

 

They continued to do this for some time, Wally really wasn’t sure for how long.

* * *

 

He sneaks away from the Allen family sometimes. He never goes far, mostly because there isn’t anywhere for him to go. No one for him to go to. He’s alone now, after all. He had to borrow Don’s raincoat and boots tonight, it was raining to hard for him to go without any outer wear. As usual he found himself in the park, a little area just down the hill. The street lamps were on, since the sun hadn’t risen just yet. They hadn’t been cleaned in a long time so instead of a white glow they all had an orange glow, making the area unintentionally eerie. The equipment was to slick to climb on so instead he settled for stomping around in the puddles, something most kids his age wouldn’t be caught doing even if they still found it fun.

 

Wally heard a yawn from up the road. He didn’t look up, he knew it was Iris. She seemed to be just as much an insomniac as he was, and after only a few days their sleep schedules seemed to have synced together. That or Iris had super powerful mom instinct and instantly knew when her kids were doing something she didn’t agree with. Whatever the case he didn’t mind that she followed him, nor did he mind that she chose to stand there and watch him from under her zebra striped umbrella. Wally thought Iris looked funny before her morning coffee. If ever there was a caffeine zombie it was Iris. Besides… it was kind of comforting to have her there.

 

It was a fall day when Emmaline was called to come to the school. She’d been afraid. It was uncommon for her to need to do this. Wally was a good boy. He fussed sometimes but never to the point where he got into any massive trouble, thankfully. When she walked into the principal's office she watched him color on a notepad with a little stub of crayon. When he was in kindergarten he drew near relentlessly. For a while she had thought he would grow up to be an artist. However after noticing that he was drawing scientists (he had to tell her himself, she had thought her son was either drawing a detective or a triangle) and realizing that he much preferred _Bill Nye_ over _Blue’s Clues_  at the tender age of three she began to wonder if he’d be a doctor. He was only nine now and she could have sworn that the boy was about twelve times smarter than his uncle.

 

She sat down next to her son, who mumbled a ‘Hi’ in acknowledgement. Emmaline smiled at him before turning to the principal. She held her purse in her hands, practically ripping the fabric with her nails. She only grew more anxious as the man took the time of her entrance to clean his glasses. Her eyes began darting wildly around the room as she waited for him to speak.

 

“Thank you for coming here today Miss West.”

 

“Mmm-hmm, no problem,” she said in a strained voice. Her fingers began to drum against her purse. Her smile was stretched almost impossibly wide. The elderly man noticed.

 

“Don’t worry Miss West, your boy isn’t in any trouble.”

 

Emmaline wanted to sigh, but logic told her that she wouldn’t be here if something wasn’t going on with Wally. She clenched her purse even tighter and leaned forward a little, “Buuuuut?”

 

“Well, you see… We had your son take a test of sorts after we noticed him being…”

 

“Being?”

 

The elderly man intertwined his fingers together, “Different. Not in a bad way, I assure you. After we received the score for the test back we realized that he’s smart.” She nodded, not sure if she was appreciative of the man for acknowledging her son’s intelligence, or to be offended by the implication that they may have thought of her son as dumb before.

 

The man continued, seemingly not noticing the apprehension he had caused the woman, “He’s _very_ intelligent for a boy his age in fact. We think you might have a bit of a young genius on your hands.”

 

She blinked a few times, processing what was just said to her. Then a genuine smile spread across her face.

* * *

 

Emmaline’s funeral was small. Three months after she died they had gotten everything in order. Wally thought taking that long would have assured there was more people. Maybe his mom was lonelier than he had thought… 

 

“Hello, Cub.”

 

Wally startled before turning away from his mother and towards the owner of the voice, “Granny Elliot?” The elderly woman smiled at her grandson and held out an open arm, the other firmly grasping her walking stick cane. Wally opened his mouth to say something, to shout but instead what came out was a high pitched, half finished noise that died in his throat. The bottoms of his eyelids just barely held the tears that had started to form as he rocketed towards his grandmother.

 

“I thought I’d never see you again!”

 

Elliot simply rubbed the boy’s back with a sad smile, “I’d never put you through that, not willingly my precious boy.” Wally’s grasp around his grandmother’s waist tightened, “She’s gone.” The woman hummed in response as she steered her grandchild over to some chairs that lined the walls. The few people that were there let them do this without question. As they sat down Wally began to shake as the tears rolled down his face.

 

“Are you OK,” he choked.

 

“I’m suppose to be asking you that.”

 

“But she was more than just my mom to you.”

 

Elliot rested her chin atop the boy’s head, “Yes, she was.”

 

Wally grabbed her hand, “Is this the last time that I’ll see you? I know the doctor’s think you’re not well enough to live without a nurse.” Wally looked around, and as he expected there was a man in pale blue scrubs standing in the corner, doing his best not to intrude. He blinked through some tears as he continued to speak, “Are you going back to Nebraska.”

 

“No, I’ve convinced them to let me move here.”

 

Wally inhaled sharply as he moved away enough so that they could look at each other, “Really?”

 

Elliot nodded, “I still won’t be able to take care of you, but you can come visit still.” She squeezed her nephew’s hand as a serious look crossed her face, “Have these Allen people been good to you?”

 

Wally thought about it for a moment. Then he looked over to Barry and Iris. The couple were speaking to Wally’s old English teacher now, all three wearing sad looks. Don and Dawn sat in a different row of seats, close to their parents. They looked upon her with contemplative looks, seemingly unsure of what to think of the funeral. Wally breathed through his nose as he watched them, a gross wet sound making itself known due to his crying. After this brief moment Wally nodded, and his grandmother seemed to relax a little. Wally let himself look at her for a bit, taking in how different she looked. She wasn’t covered in paint like usual, he hair was unkempt, and she had bags under her eyes. Wally wondered if he looked the same, he hadn’t ever bothered to look at himself in the mirror… Actually the Allen household didn’t have any mirrors, except for the little hand mirror that Iris carried in her purse, now that Wally thought about it. When Elliot wrapped an arm around him Wally leaned against her. They sat in silence as the people around them spoke in hushed tones.

 

After a few moments Wally finally spoke, “It’s all my fault.”

 

“What?”

 

“If I hadn’t let Danny convince me to go with him, or if I hadn’t gone to the comic store when she told me to I could’ve… Maybe I could have… All of this is my fault.”

 

Elliot cooed and squeezed his shoulder, “No. This isn’t your fault. It’s not your mother’s fault. It’s that bastard's fault. You’re little, even if you had stayed you probably wouldn’t have been able to do anything. You might have ended up dead as well for all we know. My old heart wouldn’t be able to take it, losing both of you, and I know she wouldn’t want you to get hurt for her. Now you pay attention the Granny.”

 

“Yeah,” Wally choked with a nod.

 

“Everyone… is their own book, and each book is connected to all the others. Some are short and some are very long, because of that our stories don’t always end in the same place. But you see we’ll all eventually be together again, as long as we live out our stories.”

 

Wally’s eyes were red now, “What do we do, when we miss her and we’re not together?”

 

She sighed, “Well, when your grandpa died I tried my best to remember all the good things about him. If I felt particularly blue I did my best to remember things he did that made me laugh. Like the time when he got a pancake stuck to the ceiling.”

 

Wally chuckled a bit before leaning more against her shoulder with a sad hiccup as she continued, “The way I see it is that if we keep all the good times close to our hearts, then we’re helping the best version of them alive in a way. And if we do that, then they’re always with us. Even if we can’t see them.”

 

“I… think I can do that.”

 

The boy sobbed into Elliot’s shoulder. Elliot was crying as well. She didn't make much sound, and her tears were much less apparent. Although barely anything could hurt as much losing a child she had lived many many years and had plenty of experience when it came to losing people. So despite the hurt she no doubt felt she also knew how to handle it. More than her grandson who had never lost a thing in his life before now. Everything had been taken from him, so although she was very, very pained she knew she had to be strong for him.

 

She smiled sadly though her tears, “It really is a beautiful urn.”

* * *

 

They were paying _Jumanji_ which, as it turned out, was nowhere near as cool as the movie made it seem. It was distracting enough that Wally found himself unintentionally opening up to Ms. Lance.

 

“So, you feel lonely?”

 

“I don’t know. I guess,” he paused, “Sometimes when I can’t visit Granny,” he shrugged as he glared at the card in his hands.

 

Dinah had told them that they needed a meeting practically the second they’d walked in. So now Wally sat in the waiting room and while Barry and Iris made stood in her office. Waiting.

 

“You two need to take some vacation time.”

 

“Why?” They asked in unison.

 

Dinah looked away from her notepad to make eye contact, “You’re not making enough time for him, and from what little I’m getting out from him so far Dawn is making it worse.”

 

Iris eyes went wide, “What did she do?”

 

Dinah sighed, “I doubt that she meant any harm by it but from what he said it seems that she’s just saying all the wrong things.” The blonde turned to Barry, “You’ve gone through this kind of loss before, Scarlett. Pay attention to what she’s saying and I’m sure you’ll begin to see it. If she tries to hard to make him happy, tell her to turn it down when you think it’s necessary. Stuff like that.”

 

“Most of all I think you both should take some time off of work, if you can. I know both of your jobs can be high demanding but Wally needs people around him more than what’s currently being given to him. Alone time to let this sort of thing process is great, but in the end you also need people to fall back on. I’m not saying taking months off but a few days, at the least.”

 

“I take it the break from work goes double for me,” Barry asked as he slid a thoughtful hand over his mouth.

 

“Yeah. Since you and Ralph cycle between who’s with the League and who’s protecting Central and Keystone I’d suggest that you ask him to stay here while you take a break.”

 

“And the League?”

 

She shrugged, “Let’s just ask Francisco to cover for you.”

 

Barry’s stare turned hard, “You know he doesn’t like the idea of a team of Supers. He was always against the idea of the League, especially  after it expanded.”

 

Dinah narrowed her eyes, “Ollie isn’t too keen on the idea either, yet he’s a part of it. Look, Vibe is a good friend of yours, given the circumstances I’m sure he’d be more than willing. For a while at least.” Barry nodded. 

* * *

 

 

Wally never knew anyone who would go to summer school _willingly_ before he had met his cousin Don. While Wally himself loved to learn new things he never thought anyone would go to the extent as to waste their summer. Don was that person. Wally almost wished he was that person as well. He needed something to do. A distraction from the truth in his life. One night Wally had enough and borrowed Don’s chemistry textbook. What the older boy was learning was a few levels above what Wally himself had last touched upon when he was at school, yet he found himself understanding it well enough. The problem came when Wally started doing his cousins Chem homework for him.

 

“OK, boy genius we need to talk.”

 

Wally, who had been laying on his bed, let the comic he’d been reading fall to his stomach as he looked up at his older cousin. Don, seeing the boy's confusion sighed and made his way over to the bed and sat down criss cross at the foot. With a pout the older boy put his hands in a prayer like gesture in thought, the tips of his middle and index fingers touching his lips slightly.

 

After mulling over how to say what needed to be said he finally spoke, “You,” moving his connected hands in Wally’s direction for emphasis, “need to stop doing my Chem homework for me.”

 

“Why would you ask that, aren’t I making things easier for you?”

 

“You are, but it counts as cheating, and it makes me feel bad that the grades aren’t mine. Especially since they’re A’s.” He looked at Wally skeptically for a moment, “Which I have no clue how you're doing that when you're, like, eleven.”

 

“You say that like being smart is a bad thing,” Wally grumbled.

 

Don waved his hands in front of himself defensively, “It most certainly is not. It is just that you seem well beyond your age level when it comes to chemistry, which is odd.”

 

“Like how it’s weird that you sometimes talk like a robot,” Wally noted with a quirked eyebrow.

 

“Stop trying to distract me with quips,” he said as he wrapped his index finger and thumb around his chin in thought, “I know you do it because you're bored and you don’t want to think about… _things_ , but it's making me feel dishonest. Besides, you’ll start school in about a month since summer is almost over.” Don frowned when the younger boy pouted, “Do you think you can deal with it until then?”

 

Wally folded his arms up in mock-defiance, “I guess.”

 

Don let out a relieved sigh, glad to have a clean conscience. As he got up to leave however as he turned slightly to wave  goodbye he saw the almost destitute expression on Wally’s face he found a frown forming on his face.

 

Scratching the back of his head Don queried, “Would you like to play video games with me?”

 

Wally’s face brightened considerably at that.

* * *

 

“Maniac!, Maniac, he’s so cool!”

 

Wally was very much an only child. It had just been him, Daniel, and his mother for as long as he could remember. Now it was him and the Allens, which of course included the twins. Having little experience in the department Wally wasn’t sure if their relationship with him could be defined as sibling-like. He’d like to think that they had become friends at the very least. He knew he was on good terms with Dawn. It was hard to tell with Don though. Don was weird in both extreme and minor ways. For example, the older boy was the only male that Wally knew that would willingly play double dutch. In fact Don was rather enthusiastic about it, which in itself was odd since the older boy was stoic about most things. Then again Wally came from a town that was very gender-specific on what should and shouldn’t be done.

 

“Maniac, Maniac, don’t got to school!”

 

Wally punched the tetherball to Dawn, who high kicked it back. Wally had been walking to the park when the twins had suddenly appeared, or in Dawn’s case had tackled him to the ground. Turns out their friend Angela Margolin had just came back from summer camp and they had the idea to hang out at the park, which apparently justified tackling Wally upon seeing him headed in the same direction. Yeah, Wally probably wasn’t going to let that go for a few days. That had hurt dammit! Anyway, upon getting to the playground there was already a girl there and since she looked particularly lonely Dawn had told her she could hang out with them. Wally had seen this girl several times now, knew her on sight as the girl with pigtails. Despite seeing her many times he’d never spoken to her, so today was the day that he learned her name was Nathalia.

 

“Runs all night! Runs all right!”

 

Wally glanced to the side at Don and the two girls before hitting the ball again. He watched Dawn kick it again before noting offhandedly, “I’ve never heard this rhyme. Did he make it up or something?”

 

Dawn shook her head as she lifted her foot up to kick again, “Nah, it’s just from some book he likes.”

 

“Maniac, Maniac, kissed a bull!”

 

As Don sang the last lyric Dawn’s foot once again connected the tether ball. This time however it punctured. As the ball deflated it made a sound similar to the noise a balloon makes when blown up and then let got with being knotted. It swung rapidly around its pole, almost hitting Wally in the process. He was thankfully able to duck in time. As it slowed all five kids watched it with wide eyes, all silent. The silence continued for a few moments after it stopped until Nathalia started laughing.

* * *

 

While Barry was able to get Vibe and Elongated Man to help out with his side job a of being a superhero he was unfortunately unable to get time from his paying job. However after Dawn and Don had bought Wally the small chemistry set Barry realized he finally had a way to reach out to his nephew. Central had two different Take Your Child To Work days, one in the summer and another in the fall. When the day finally came Barry jumped at the chance and brought Wally with him to the crime lab.

 

“It’s safe to assume it’s not like how it is one TV, right?”

 

Barry laughed at that and shook his head.

 

Wally scrunched his nose up in confusion, “So what _do_ you do?”

 

He’d been happy to show Wally. For a few hours they stayed in the lab, and Barry had shown the beginnings of how to examine various substances. After this Barry explained how the science and art of fingerprinting worked, but decided to skipped the report writing process, believing it would bore Wally to death. Much to Barry’s internal joy Wally had seemed incredibly interested in the whole thing. The boy's eyes had watched with enthusiasm with each new tidbit and he was asking questions every few moments.  The boy's enthusiasm seemed to dissipate when they got to the shooting range.

 

“It’s part of your job to test weapons,” he had asked in disbelief.

 

Barry nodded, “Do you want to learn how? We don’t have to if guns make you uncomfortable.”

 

Wally shifted from foot to foot, “I don’t know.”

 

Just as Barry opened his mouth to assure the boy that it was perfectly okay if he didn’t want to, the door to the shooting range opened. In walked a cop dressed in uniform, his daughter hot on his tail.

 

“C’mon, Papa! Hurry so I can kick your butt at this,” the girl laughed.

 

The man chuckled, “Calm down, Sweetpea. Let me talk to my friend for a minute.”

 

Barry shook the man’s extended hand, “Good to see you again, seems like it’s been awhile.”

 

“Well, considering you don’t get sent down to crime scenes nearly as often,” the man pointed out.

 

Wally looked between the two men for a moment before tugging on the sleeve of the blonde’s labcoat, “Um… Uncle B?”

 

“Hmm? Oh,” he remembered and put a hand on Wally’s shoulder, “Alex, this is my nephew Wally. Wally, this is Officer Alex Rose and his daughter, Iridiana.”

 

The girl let out a bubbly giggle of excitement as she jumped forward and put her hand out expectantly. Wally, surprised by her hyperactive reaction shrunk behind Barry a little. The girl giggled again and looked to her father, “He seems really bashful doesn’t he, Papa?”

 

“Well maybe he'd be a bit less shy if you actually said ‘Hello’ first instead of hopping all around like ferret,” the man reasoned.

 

“Oh,” the girl nodded before turning back to Wally with a big smile, “Hello!” When Wally backed further behind Barry and refused to look anywhere but the ground she simply peered around white-clad man and tried again, “I said, ‘Hello!’”

 

Barry put his hand on Wally’s shoulder again, hoping that it was a reassuring gesture, “Well, aren’t you going to say anything?” Wally looked up at his uncle and shook his head nervously. Barry smiled teasingly, “You’re not afraid are you?” At this Wally scrunched up his face in embarrassment and irritation and shook his head again. Barry chuckled softly, “Well if that’s the case,” he said as he pushed the boy out from his hiding spot and nose to nose with the girl.

 

Wally gulped before looking back at the man whose only reply to the pensive look was a simple, “Go on.”

 

Wally gulped once more before returning his gaze to the floor, “Hello.”

 

Iridiana broke into another fit of giggles before grabbing Wally’s hand and dragging him off towards the booths. Both parents allowed themselves to laugh at the girl’s antics.

 

“They certainly became good friends quickly,” Alex said merrily.

 

“First friend he’s made since coming to Central to be honest,” Barry whispered sadly, “Honestly it’s been hard to get him out of the house and do anything with us.”

 

“That’s to be expected given what you said he's been through.”

 

As this conversation went on the two kids obliviously went about their own conversation.

 

“Paintball?”

 

“Yup,”  Iridiana nodded, “My dad taught me how to shoot last time he got to bring me here and I had a blast, literally. Ever since then we’ve played paintball together.”

 

Wally hummed in thought before running back to Barry, “I decided I want to.”

 

“Really,” the man asked with genuine surprise. When the boy nodded Barry said, “Alright,” before going to the gun rack and grabbing a pistol and a magazine, passing Alex on the way as the man brought one over to his daughter. Wally watched them put the plastic earmuff-looking-things on after flipping a switch to make the targets move. Soon enough the noise of gunshots were bombarding the room.

 

Wally jumped a bit when Barry tapped his shoulder. He turned around and smiled at the man until Barry held the gun out. Barry noticed how the boy began fidgeting and assured him that the gun was on safety. Wally nodded before gingerly taking the pistol from his uncle. Barry sighed.

 

“You don’t need to be afraid of it, the pistol is just a thing. Like a kitchen knife.”

 

“Right, it’s the people behind the gun I need to worry about at the worst of times, isn’t it,” he asked with big eyes.

 

“That’s right,” Barry nodded as he walked them over to an empty booth. He snatched a pair of earmuffs from the booth next to them and put them on before helping Wally put his on.

 

“We're going to keep it stationary, OK?”

 

“Alright, can we aim for the shoulders only though? I know it’s only foam but I don’t feel comfortable shooting anywhere else.”

 

Barry had to suppress a laugh as he nodded and continued to explain the gun, “To aim look right through the top, through that notch. Line up the side of the end with your target.”

 

“Anything else?”

 

“Nothing I can think of other than me turning the safety off.”

 

Wally nodded and turned towards the dummy. He let Barry reach over and flip the switch so that the boy could give it a go. He put his hands on Wally’s shoulders to keep the boy steady before nodding. Wally nodded back and raised the gun. Doing as his uncle said he took aim and fired. Unfortunately he clipped the dummies neck. Barry patted Wally on the head when the boy made a rather displeased noise at where he’d hit it.

 

“Aim lower this time,” he instructed, to which Wally nodded. With a loud bang the bullet passed through where the left side of the collarbone would have been had the dummy had one. Another displeased grumble escaped Wally’s throat just a moment before Barry continued his instructions, “Now aim further to the left and just a little lower.”

 

Wally nodded again before taking aim. He took in a deep breath as he pressed the trigger. To his surprise he actually hit the dummies left shoulder. He turned and smiled up at Barry, who smiled back before saying, “Now try to hit the right shoulder.”

 

To Wally’s joy, he did it. He let out a short a laugh and Barry clapped his hands in congregation. As they celebrated Barry’s watch began to beep.

 

“Well would you look at that, it’s already time to go home.”

 

“Wait, you mean we won’t be able to go back to the lab?”

 

“ ‘Fraid so. Sorry, kiddo.”

 

Barry let out a laugh as Wally grumbled under his breath.

* * *

 

It had taken awhile but Wally had finally started to open up towards Iris, much to her relief. She was also extremely thankful that Dinah had told her that he was feeling lonely. Now she knew that more time would need to be given to him, and she was going to do everything in her power to make sure that happened.

 

First she and Barry had sent their children to the mall, which proved to be disastrous thanks to a guest appearance from Abra Kadabra.  The twins had been able to stop him before he caused any real damage but in the confusion Wally had found himself in The Flash Museum... Somehow. The day had had one good turn out at least. Since Dawn and Don had bought him a chemistry set that led to Barry realizing he and the boy had something in common. Now that left her. She and Wally had played a lot of board games when he first came to live with them, but she felt like she hadn’t truly bonded with him. Sure, Wally’s reception of her had improved at some point, but there still wasn’t a real connection. This bothered her.

 

She tried simple things, like playing _Mario Kart_ with him and her other two babies. During days where Barry was away on League business and the twins were out she’d have movie marathons with him. She’d organized a picnic, but that only seemed to cause him to fall into a foul mood afterwards. She wasn’t sure why exactly that had happened, but it did and she couldn’t help but feel bad over it afterwards. She’d ask him to help make dinner and had been sure to hug him whenever he seemed like he'd be receptive.

 

Absolutely none of it was working.

 

Iris thought of this as she drove to the prison. It was visitation day, and Wally was excited to see his Uncle Danny. Iris on the other hand, wasn't. She didn't think fondly of the man. While she didn't  hate him nearly as much as she hated Robert, she still hated Daniel nonetheless. He’d proven time and time again that he wasn’t a good person. From stealing cars, to getting in shootouts, and perpetuating the rivalry with the Kane family, he’d shown time and time again that he was rotten. Then of course there was the possibility that he had been a dealer back in high school. It had never been proven but Iris honestly wouldn't put it past him. Yet sometime between her absence and now the man had convinced this kid that he wasn’t a bad person. Maybe he’d turned over a new leaf, maybe he hadn’t...

 

“You OK, Iris,” Wally asked as she pulled the car into the parking lot.

 

“Huh? Oh I'm fine,” she said with a smile. A fake smile. Iris almost frowned at the look Wally was giving her. It was clear that if she wasn't an authority figure he'd be calling her out on her bullshit there and then.

 

They’d been lead to the visitation room not to long ago. Iris and Wally sat in the chairs that lined the walls, waiting for a booth to open up. Iris let out a sigh as she squeezed her nephew's hand tighter. For the first time in a long time this room made her feel incredibly anxious. Yes, she’d been here many times before. With Barry in fact. She still remembered the first time the man had brought her to meet his father. They’d been dating for about four months when he’d asked her if she’d wanted to come. Iris, of course, had agreed. The anxiousness she felt then wasn’t because she was about to meet a criminal though. No, Henry Allen was sent to jail unfairly. The system had _failed_ him. The anxiousness she felt was because she was meeting her boyfriend’s father. Today was different. Today she had to let her nephew speak to a legitimate criminal that just happened to be her brother and his uncle.

 

...That and Captain Cold was currently on the other side of the glass, speaking to his sister with the help of the corded phones on either side. Cold seemed to be yelling about The Flash and how his recent criminal act had been foiled by the scarlet clad speedster and Vibe. The blond woman nodded in disinterest, clearly sick of these stories. The Captain currently wore a rather nasty black-eye thanks to Vibe kicking the villain in the face. According to Barry, Francisco had been having a bad day and seeing Cold endanger innocents had been the last straw, causing the usually laid-back vigilante to be a little rougher than usual.  A guard eventually walked over to Captain Cold and tapped him on the shoulder to let him know his time was up. The Captain turned to glare at the guard before slamming the phone back on it’s mantel. As the villain angrily left the room he roughly bumped shoulders with the man entering the room, Danny.

 

As soon as Cold’s sister got up to leave Wally rushed over to the booth. The blonde woman turned around to watch Wally for and moment before sighing sadly. The frown quickly disappeared from the woman's face as her usual stony demeanor took hold once more. By this point Iris stood up and leaned against wall, arms crossed in a defensive gesture. Both because she didn’t want Lisa Snart to go anywhere near her nephew and also so that Daniel would know she didn't want to be anywhere near him. Thankfully the woman chose to continue on her way out. Lisa stopped as she approached Iris and gave the other woman a good long look. Iris would be lying if she said she didn't feel a little intimidated by the blonde. Lisa was an unusually tall woman, almost Amazon level tall.

 

Finally Lisa spoke, “Ah, you’re one of the reporters he held hostage a few months back. My honest apologies,” she finished as she continued to the door. Iris’ shoulders slumped in relief once the woman was gone.

 

Wally had missed the whole confrontation as he chatted to his uncle, “You were right about Iris, she's really nice. Barry isn’t as bad as you made him sound, and the twins are fun, but…”

 

He paused for a moment as his eyes started to burn and his throat started to hurt. Wally shook his head quickly, trying to prevent himself from crying in front of the man as he continued, “I miss you, and Mom. At least I can see you sometimes… I wish I was there. Maybe I could have-”

“Let me talk to your Aunt,” Danny’s voice sounded through the receiver.

 

“Huh?”

 

“I said, ‘Let. Me. Talk. To Iris,” he repeated with a crueler tone.

 

Wally flinched back a bit, hurt. Why would he want to talk to her more than him? Why did he sound so angry? Shouldn’t he be saying things like ‘I’m sorry I was an idiot that did things to get locked up’ or ‘Everything will be alright.’ Couldn’t he at least say ‘Hello’ before throwing him to side like that. Wally was used to Danny being a little dismissive… But not like this. It was like the man couldn’t even stand to look at him. Wally swallowed air as he felt his eyes burn up again. His hands shook as he pulled the phone away from ear. Finally he looked to his Aunt Iris and called her over. She looked shocked at first, then angry as her gaze went down to her shoes. Finally she huffed and marched over to the booth with a neutral expression. When she finally got there Wally handed her the phone with shaky hands. The boy stood abruptly, knocking the plastic  chair down in the process.

 

“Wally,” Iris called as he ran out of the room.

 

“Well, aren’t you going to give a ‘Hello’ to your baby bro,” _his_ voice questioned through the phone.

 

Enraged Iris turned around and pounder her fist against the side of the booth, “The _hell_ is wrong with you!”

 

“What, not like he’s mine?”

 

“Bastard! How can you say that when you’re the one who helped raise him?”

 

The man sighed and leaned back in his chair, “Not like Mary would get rid of him. If I wanted to be with her I had to deal with him. I did my part, made sure he didn’t end up like me. Now he’s not my problem anymore so why bother, right?”

 

The hand that wasn’t holding the phone had clenched into a fist, trembling with rage. She wanted to punch him, or strangle him, or just pummel him into a pile of meat that no one would be able to recognize. How could anyone talk so lowly of a child they’d help raise. How could a smug, unfeeling, little prick like this be considered human. She’s met _aliens_ with more humanity for fucks sake!

 

Then the man had the audacity to smile lovingly at her, “It’s been a long time, hasn’t it? Tell me about yourself.”

 

“Go straight to hell,” she screamed as she slammed the phone back on it’s pedestal.

* * *

 

She took Wally to the lakefront after this. Parked the car so it was facing out towards the water and convinced the boy to lay on the hood of the car with her. They stayed in silence there for what felt like hours but in reality was only a few minutes before Wally spoke up.

 

“Did you know about me?”

 

“No.”

 

“How come,” he wondered  aloud.  

 

“I left right after high school. Our family was… bad. Our big sister abandoned us a few years earlier, Daniel was already knee deep in crime and no one ever knew what your dad-”

 

“He's not my dad,” Wally interrupted.

 

“OK, the _bastard_ … well like I said no one knew what he was up to. I just wanted to get away. So one day I packed my bag and got on the next train out of town. I hitched hiked for… a few days maybe. When I got to Central I found a newspaper that said it wanted pictures of this new vigilante that just showed up.”

 

“The Flash?”

 

“Yeah,” she smiled, “I got a disposable camera from some dollar store and started taking pictures. I did some crazy things to get those pictures. They weren’t high quality but they were the clearest pictures my boss had ever seen.”

 

She turned to look at him with a smirk, “She hired me on the spot, said she liked my spunk. Gave me a real professional camera and everything. I met Barry a few weeks later.”

 

Iris slung an arm around Wally’s shoulders, “You know, one of the only bad things about my story is that I wasn’t there to meet you or your mom. You know, I bet that since you're such a nice kid that your mom was a really nice lady.”

 

She felt Wally curl into her side, “I miss her.”

 

Iris squeezed his shoulder, “I know, baby. I know.”

* * *

 

Iris was relieved that Wally’s visitations with his Grandma Elliot were happy at the least. Unlike Daniel who had brushed the boy off in favor of Iris, Wally was the apple of his Elliot's eye. Despite her old age and the fact that she needed a cane Elliott was a very lively woman. Currently the boy and woman were playing a rather intense game of table tennis. Iris sat and watched them with several of the residence at the retirement home. A smile on her face the whole time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N4: I have no idea if Wally’s grandmother on his mom’s side even ever showed up in the comics or if she even has a name. I literally just asked a friend of mine to list a few names that they stereotypically associated with grandmas and one of the first things she said was Eleanor and Elliot, and I decided to go with the later. As for Wally’s characterization in this chapter I was trying to accurately depict how children tend to cope with this kind of thing. To put it as simply as possible, kids are mood whiplash-y about this kind of stuff. Their emotions aren’t fully developed and they don’t tend to dwell as much as adults. They can go from being sunshine and rainbows and forgetting what has happened to having reality smack them upside the head in the matter of seconds. It’s way more complicated than how I’m putting it but that’s the bare basics. 
> 
> A/N5: Speaking of OC’s I guess I should explain the Rose family. I finally started watching the new live-action version of The Flash (I got into it really late) a few chapters in and was pleasantly surprised to find the actors for Iris and her father are Candice Patton, and Jesse L. Martin respectively, both of whom are Black. Since I already was well into this continuity depicting Iris and her siblings as Caucasian I decided to make some OC’s in response. Making them has actually proved useful in terms of a certain character who will be appearing next chapter. This character almost got exiled from this continuity due to me not being able to work them in, however after I came up with the Rose family I realized I had a way to include them. That and I’ve got a storyline revolving around Iridiana planned for some point in the future.
> 
> The Rose family's names all have meanings. Their surname for one is taken from the compass rose, as a reference to direction and who they’re inspired by. Iridiana’s name is actually a variant of Iris’ name, and like Iris, it means rainbow. I gave her father the name Alex, because it means defender of mankind, and I felt the name suited a fictional detective. Iridiana’s currently unseen mother is named Anise, which is both a people name and the name of a spice. She owns a restaurant, which is going to be a hangout for Wally and his future friends. Alex and Iridiana are both only very loosely based on Iris and her father in the Arrow-verse and are largely their own characters, while Anise is entirely an OC.


	12. Back To School

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N1: So i’m going to be perfectly honest here, I’ve stopped reading New 52 sometime ago. Like a year ago, at least. They just weren’t making any stories that caught my interest. I don’t know if they’ve made anything I would have liked since then but I’m not all too interested to be perfectly honest. This means I haven’t been paying a too awful lot of attention to how they’ve been portraying Wally. I only know what I know from scans of a page or two from when he first debuted in New 52. According to a friend they haven’t really done anything with his character yet. I know there’s a lot of debate about the new Wally from fans. One friend told me that in terms of stereotypes it was a bit iffy but not tremendously bad. Another friend was insisting that it was full on White Man’s Burden levels of bad. I haven’t seen enough of New 52 Wally so I really can’t judge. When he first showed up and proved to be an angry kid (Coinciding to the “Angry Black Man” stereotype unfortunately) I shrugged. Not because I thought it was okay but because I’ve seen characters of African descent be introduced with that personality, only for it to later change under writers (sometimes writers getting outright swapped) into a much more complex, three dimensional personality. A good example of this happening would be John Stewart (Green Lantern). He followed the stereotype to a T when he was introduced in the comics, but when Bruce Timm and Paul Dini got a hold of him John became a fantastic character. I figured if I waited it would get better, but then I got bored with New 52 and again, according to my friends, Wally’s character hasn’t really gone much anywhere since his introduction. Meaning he’s still… meh, as far as a character goes, but can also be interpreted as horribly stereotypical depending on the comic-reader. Or not all that stereotypical at all, considering I’ve seen many varying opinions on just how stereotypical he is. Again I haven’t been reading so I have no way to form my own opinion on the subject anymore.
> 
> When I started this fic I had the entire story arc surrounding his family planned out before I decided my version would be biracial as well. His story is a mix of pre-New 52 continuities and several fan stories I’ve read throughout the years. The only elements of New-52 in this story is the existence of his Uncle Daniel (who was originally going to be called Uncle William before Daniel’s actual character was made canon) and the fact that he’s biracial. I decided to make him biracial because I honest to God believe there is a lack of representation of people of mixed race and ancestry in media. 
> 
> Unlike New 52 Wally, whom I’m told had a shitty life for most of his existence, my version of Wally had a normal, happy life until Rudy West returned and everything very suddenly went down hill in the worst ways possible. His life now has a chance of going somewhere good once again with the Allens and his grandma, whereas if Daniel had managed to keep him and stay away from police he would have been constantly on the run whether he wanted to be or not.

 

“Dawn! Dawn put me down,” Wally shouted as he struggled against his older cousin’s grasp. The teen just laughed at his distress as she continued to carry him bridal style towards the shopping carts. Wally hated now more than ever how strong Dawn was. As she lifted him up to put him in the shopping cart Wally begun to desperately squirm, and pushed her face roughly in attempt to make her drop him. As Dawn got him above the basket of the cart Wally put his feet on either side, trying his best not to be put in the cart.

 

“You should give up. She is much stronger than you,” Don explained from his seat on the bench.

 

“Shut it, Don,” Wally warned.

 

“Also she is bigger,” the older boy deadpanned. Wally opened his mouth to yell at his cousin again but was stopped when he heard someone yelling towards them.

 

“My twinsies!”

 

Dawn looked in the direction of the voice and squealed. Running towards the trio was a short, bottom heavy girl with almost gravity defying hair. Dawn let go of Wally’s shoulders and ran, at a natural speed, towards her friend. Don rushed forwards, doing his best not to use his powers, to make sure the younger boy didn’t fall head first against the cement floor of the Walmart’s entrance room. Much to Wally’s chargin this also resulted in him landing in the basket.

 

As he accepted his fate Dawn dragged the girl over, “Don, look who it is!”

 

He nodded in acknowledgement and said, “ _Hola Meloni. Es un placer verte hoy_.”

 

The girl blinked amber eyes at Dawn who shrugged, “He took Spanish again in summer school. I’m pretty sure he just said ‘hi,’ or something.”

 

Don’s lips scrunched into a straight line from annoyance caused by his sister as understanding swept across the girl’s face, “Oh! Yeah being bilingual is, like, super useful these days. Especially if you end up on the East End of town.”

 

Don nodded in agreement before saying, “The Tornado Twins are sometimes called Más y Menos in East End. I think that would make things less confusing… when talking about them I mean.”

 

“I guess,” Dawn shrugged as her eyes looked upwards in thought.

 

Wally coughed from his place in the cart, causing three pairs of eyes to look at him. Dawn pressed her hands to her face in embarrassment, “Huh? Oh sorry about that kiddo. Meloni Thawne, this is our little cousin Wally.”

 

“Hi there,” she smiled.

 

“Thawne,” Wally’s face scrunched up in distaste, remembering the rough treatment he’d gotten from a cop of the same name. Yes, he’d fled from the man with Danny but the man slamming his face into a _brick wall_ once he’d finally gotten his hands on Wally was a little much in the boy’s opinion, especially given his height and age. That and if Thawne hadn’t caught them Danny might still be acting like he cared… Then again he wouldn’t be with Iris, Barry, and the twins. Wally scrunched up his face more, this time from his emotions doing flips and turns in his brain. Now more than ever he wished he had Miss Lance to talk to right now.

 

Instead of dwelling on it he decided to joke around, “How does your hair do that?”

 

Meloni’s eyes went wide in thought as she started petting her anime-like hair in honest to goodness wonder, “I actually have no idea.”

 

Iris returned from the bathroom at this point, grocery list in hand. She sent the twins to get haircuts (it was half-off Tuesday), and started to push the cart Wally sat in the opposite direction of the in-store barber. Meloni followed the twins, waving goodbye to Iris and Wally as she went. After they got a distance away a smug smile crossed Iris’ face.

 

“I think Don has a crush on her.”

 

“Stoic-boy is capable of that,” Wally snarked.

 

Iris gave him what was suppose to be a warning look however she suspected it wasn’t very affected since she still had a smile on her face. Iris wandered over the part of Walmart that was currently dedicated to back-to-school gear. To her surprise she saw an old friend.

 

“Anise Rose, is that you?”

 

The woman who had been examining a notebook turned around and smiled at the red haired woman, “Iris, darling!”

 

The two women hugged, excited to see each other after so long. As Anise rested her chin on Iris’ shoulder she saw Wally attempting to climb out of the cart, a feat that was proving much easier now that it wasn’t in motion.

 

“Why you must be Wally! You know, Iridiana and Hunter are here as - Oh! You wouldn’t have met him since he was helping at the restaurant that day. Hold on, let me call them over so the three of you can pow-wow!”

 

Iris snerked as her friend called her children, “Ani, did you really just say ‘pow-wow?’ You’re making us look way older than we are.”

 

From some nameless aisle a few feet away Iridiana came running, dragging a slightly older boy in a black hoodie by the hand. When the girl saw Wally she let go of the boy’s hand and ran up towards him excitedly, “Hey it's you!”

 

“Hi,” Wally said shyly.

The boy in the hoodie came sauntering up to them. The boy seemingly chose to ignore the younger children as he started rifling through a bin of markers. This didn't deter Iridiana though. She grabbed the boy’s black sleeve and started to introduce him.

 

“This is my big bro!”

 

The brown haired boy spared Wally a glance with his equally brown eyes, “M’name is Hunter Zolomon.”

 

The older boy would have been perfectly content with searching through the bin and ignoring his little sister and her friend had his mom not spoken up.

 

“Why don’t you three go pick out new backpacks - Wait does Wally need one too,” Iris nodded so Anise continued, “So you three go do that, OK? The rack for them are just a few aisles that way,” she explained while pointing in the general direction.

 

Iridiana laughed at her mom and half-skipped towards the bags. As the boys followed her Iris called out, “Wally pick out some for the twins, Dawn lost theirs at the sandlot!”

 

“On it,” he called back before disappearing around the corner.

 

They walked in silence for a few brief seconds before Hunter spoke up, secretly hoping his sister was out of earshot, “Aren’t you gonna ask?”

 

Wally gave him a genuinely confused expression, “Huh?”

 

“You’ve seen my whole family. I know you have, sis said you were at the station for the take-your-child day. So if you’re going to ask like every other person with the guts to then just do it already.”

 

“What are you even,” Wally wondered aloud before it hit him. This guy was talking about how he was white and the rest if his family was black. Wally couldn’t help it when started snickering. This guy was either self-absorbed or not very observant.

 

“Eh, what’s so funny,” Hunter asked angrily.

 

“Sorry. Sorry! I just,” he had to pause to snicker, “In case you somehow haven’t noticed I’m in a similar boat. I mean, why would _I_ care.”

 

Hunter snorted, “Yeah, I noticed. It's just that everyone asks that question, and I mean _everyone_.”

 

Wally’s smile faltered at that, realizing that this was maybe the type of thing Hunter had to deal with a lot. In the few months Wally had been with his extended family he’d only ever gotten stares, which were annoying and a great way to have one’s confidence reduce. This guy however talked in a way that made it seem that people came up to him multiple times a day just to question his family. Wally hadn’t experienced that yet, and honestly hoped that it would stay that way. Wally sighed, deciding to try to defuse the suffocating atmosphere that was surrounding himself and Hunter as they approached the row of backpacks, “Well, to be fair to me you were probably planning on asking me something similar.”

 

Hunters back straightened defensively, “Yeah, well if I did start asking questions I’d do it with some tact unlike ninety-nine percent of everyone else.”

 

Iridiana laughed as she looked at a backpack with some kind of anime character printed on it, “You? Tactful? That’ll be the day!”

 

“Ah, crud! You heard all that?”

 

“Um, _yeah_ . Your voice carries, a _lot_.”

 

Hunter’s top lip upturned as he made an annoyed “nyah” kind of sound at her before turning to Wally, “So what’s your story?”

 

Wally shook his head with a smile, “You first.”

 

“A-hole,” the older boy scoffed, “My parents adopted me because they didn’t think they could get pregnant. Ironically they got pregnant with sis after having me around for like, I don’t, a month?”

 

Wally couldn’t help but notice how recited the whole thing seemed. He chose to ignore it, “Iris is my Aunt. Some… stuff happened and I live with them now.”

 

Like how Wally had noticed how recited Hunter’s story was, Hunter notice the very distinct dismissal Wally placed on his past. Like the younger boy, he had the courtesy not to push the subject.

 

Instead he walked over and grabbed a Flash themed backpack and slung it over his shoulder, “So, what grade you going into?”

 

“Seventh,” Wally said as he looked at a black, purple, and white shoulder bag. He wondered if Don would like it. Wally figured Don was the man-purse type of guy.

 

“That sucks. At least if you were in Sixth you’d be new with everyone else,” Hunter noted, failing to realize he was making Wally nervous.

 

Iridiana however, did notice. So while Wally grabbed the man-purse and a random red and white bag for Dawn (because he knew she really wouldn’t care) she said, “You and I are in the same grade, so you’ll know me. Just you watch, I bet you and I will be in at least one class together.”

 

“Maybe,” Wally smiled back as he reached for a _Flaming C_  bag.

 

“Your arms are full, let me,” Hunter said as he grabbed the bag for him.

 

“Thanks.”

 

“If he’s getting a cartoon bag than I’m going to get,” she ruffled through a row of bags for a moment before dragging out a bright pink one and holding it above her head triumphantly, “this _Hello Kitty_ bag!”

 

Wally laughed, “Here I thought she was a straight up tomboy.”

* * *

 

“Where are they,” Iris wondered aloud as she stomped her foot in frustration. As if on cue Wally’s phone buzzed. It was Dawn.

 

Swiping the answer icon Wally clicked the speaker button so Iris could here. “Where are you guys?”

 

“I’m on speaker, aren’t I,” she guessed, dread clear in her voice.

 

“Where are you,” Iris repeated as frustration leaked out from her very being.

 

“We sorta decided to go see a movie with Meloni.”

With gritted teeth Iris said, “Dawn, you need to tell me before you run off and do things,” Iris looked to the ground with sad eyes, “I worry.”

 

“Mom I - Hey,” some scuffling could be heard in the background before Don’s voice replaced Dawn’s, “Mom, do not forget about Grandpa Henry's pocket watch. We got a phone call that it was repaired today, remember?”

 

She sighed, “I know. I know. All of you stay safe, alright?”

 

“We will,” all three teens shouted into the phone before the call ended.

* * *

 

“You okay,” Wally tugged at his Aunt’s camera bag as they waited for the clocksmith to find Henry’s watch.

 

With a nod she forced a smile, “I just get worried about them sometimes.”

 

Without another word she reached into her purse and grabbed the money she’d need to pay the man behind the counter. At that same moment something white collided against the window and shattered it. Wally knew how these kind of things worked and was fast enough to grab Iris by her forearms and yank her down as another white blur soured horrifically close to where her head once was.

 

“Captain Boomerang,” he sneered. While Wally was adapting surprisingly well to Central one thing he was sure he’d never get used to was the super-criminals. In Blue Valley you’d see one maybe once every few months. Here in Central? Well, it’d be considered odd if one of the so called _Rogues_ didn’t show up at least once a week.

 

“I was wondering when he’d show up again,” Iris muttered to herself and reached into her coat pocket. Clicking a hidden button on her phone she sent out a distress signal.

 

“Alright, no one cause any trouble and just fork over your valuables,” the Australian man demanded.

 

As people began to throw their belongings to Boomerang’s bag Wally tugged at his Aunt’s camera bag, “We have to do something.”

 

“Don’t you dare put yourself in danger,” Iris hissed. She knew he was right. It wasn’t in a Wests instinct to subside to bystander syndrome, but Wally was just a kid. If she tried to do something, and he followed suit and got hurt…

 

Iris shook her head and grabbed his shoulders when he tried to get up and held him close. By now she would have risked damaging her camera by swinging her bag against the man’s head. She’d use that, and herself, to distract the maniac that was shaking down a man for his wallet. The other civilians would make a break for it, and then Flash, or their kids would appear from nowhere and take him down. But she knew she couldn't do that with Wally around. Wally wouldn’t run, he’d try to protect her.

 

She wrapped her arms around him when he tried to squirm from her grip. She couldn’t let him get hurt. Unlike with Don or Dawn she could still protect him.

 

But doing nothing for the other civilians made her feel like a coward…

 

“Leave him alone!”

 

And she’d forgotten to cover Wally’s mouth. Dammit!

 

Boomerang turned slowly, face a mixture of pissed off and confused,”What?”

 

“I said leave. Him. Alone.”

 

“Wally, I know that you’re a ballsy kid, but right now isn’t the time to prove it,” Iris hissed.

 

And then his shoulders weren’t in Iris’ hands anymore. Boomerang had snatched him up by his collar, his feet dangled in the air. She heard Wally gasp at the swift motion but couldn’t see the daggers he was glaring at the super criminal. As the boy and the man glared at each other the Australian’s hand clenched into a fist.

 

“You think you're something grand, you little snot-nosed brat?”

 

“Better than you,” the boy snorted as he tried to hide how afraid he was as he spoke, “You’re little toys don’t sell at a convention because everyone happened to be hyped up over a bunch Flash action figures, so what do you do? Go rogue and start chucking your merchandise at everyone!”

 

He laughed a little then, because even despite his genuine fear that he might die if someone doesn’t do something the man before him was so truly pathetic it was hilarious, “Now you're trying to make yourself into a big name villain, by robbing a clocksmith?!”

 

Boomerang’s face scrunched up in rage, even more so when the other patrons started laughing. Lifting his fist he shouted, “You little shit!”

 

The fist never connected to Wally’s face. In fact, all Boomerang had been able to do was raise his fist. You see Iris, in a moment of maternal fury, had taken her camera bag off and used the strap to swing the part actually holding the camera harshly into the man’s junk. The Captain made a high pitched, girlish scream before dropping Wally.

 

“Damn reporter,” he wheezed.

 

“Everyone out,” Iris shouted as she grabbed Wally’s hand and pulled him away from the mad man.

 

Once the patrons were out they scattered, some screaming at the top of theirs lungs, some laughing due to adrenaline, and at least one actually keeping a hold of theirself and calling the police. Iris ran too, Wally in tow next to her. The grip she had on his hand was probably bruising quality hard but her adrenaline was pumping to hard to pay attention.

 

“Never do that again!”

 

“Sorry!”

 

She didn’t have time to scold him further. Off in the distance she heard a very familiar sound. If she’d looked up she would have seen the air ripple halfway across the city. People who were unfamiliar with Central City may have through it was a low fairing jet breaking the sound barrier. All the natives knew better. Iris knew better as well.

 

Flash watched as Captain Boomerang stepped out of the shop through the window. The man’s movements were stilted at some points and rushed looking in others. After what felt like eternity he watched Boomerang lift one of his explosive weapons into air. Barry zoomed past him and looked back. At some point the Captain had let go of the projectile and it was soaring through the air towards Iris and Wally. This was how Barry saw things when he ran. It was like a stop-motion film that was stuck in slow motion. One that was missing frames of animations. Stilted looking only for it to jump forward suddenly. He’d lived with this for a long time now. He was used to it, so he ignored it. For them.

 

Wally and Iris both made somewhat pained noises as the air got knocked out of them. The red blur had picked them up before they even realized he was there. The white boomerang hit the place they once stood, shattering the pavement into shards with an explosion. Luckily The Flash had gotten Iris and Wally away in time to avoid the debris. Their heads pounded as he carried them up the side of a nearby building. He stood above them as they sat on the roof, trying to recover from their dizziness.

 

“Are the two of you OK?”

 

Barry hoped that the the voice modifier that was pinned on his costume worked well enough that Wally wouldn’t realize who he was. He knew it altered his voice, made it echo slightly with distortion, but he honestly didn’t know how he sounded with it turned on. It’s not like he’d ever bothered to record himself speaking with it. He hoped he didn’t sound like Batman. The big doom and gloom always sounded like he was gargling marbles when he used his voice modifier.

 

“Peachy,” Iris smirked. “Now go sick ‘im.”

 

Barry nodded, allowed himself a nanosecond to look at Wally who was shaking the last bits of dizziness from his mind, and took off. In the few seconds it took Flash to jump off of the roof he heard Wally shout something that caused a smile to spread on his face.

 

“Go Flash, go!”

 

Barry took a few nanoseconds to contemplate how nice it would be if Wally was a Flash fan. When Don was little he’d been obsessed with Elongated Man, and Dawn with Wonder Woman. They were fans of their father, of course! It's just that they seemed to think his two allies were infinitely cooler.

 

Barry shook his head, he needed to focus!

 

Turning he saw several police officers trying to take the Captain down. One (Ken, Barry realized) ran towards him with a baton, ready to bash the Australian’s head in if necessary. The Captain bent backwards to avoid the hit before popping back up and slicing the other man in the chest. Ken toppled over in pain. Barry could make out the faintest signs of blood pooling on Ken’s  shirt. The mad man then threw the weapon at a male officer (Joel?) who was pointing a gun at him. The boomerang lodged in the gun’s barrel as he pulled the trigger. Barry ran to the officer (Yes, this was Joel) and knocked the gun away. He watched as nanoseconds ticked by and the gun began to backfire. Barry grabbed Joel and carried the pale man away from the small blast, trying to ignore the fact that if he hadn’t been paying attention Joel could have lost his hand.

 

“Grab that downed officer when you get the chance and get away,” he said so quickly he wasn’t even sure Joel understood it. He hoped Joel knew he was talking about Ken.

 

Running pack to the commotion he saw the Captain throw another of his bladed boomerangs at another officer (Janet!) and watched in self-loathing as it pierced through her left shoulder and pinned her to the wall. Even for him there hadn’t been enough time to keep it from hitting its target. It was here when Barry had had enough. As Boomerang brought out two more of his weapons to slice up another cop who was trying to get a small girl out of the immediate area, Barry charged and jumped at him. His feet connected square in the man’s torso. When Flash pushed out he sent Boomerang rocketing a good fifteen feet away.

 

“Aw, you didn’t come back,” he quipped in his most obnoxious and loud voice. Then a seriousness stilled upon him. “You,” he shouted at the cop holding the little girl, “get the child out of here.” The woman (Sam) nodded and ran off in the opposite direction.

 

Barry looked towards another cop (Leslie) who had just arrived, “And you,” he pointed towards Janet, “Keep her alive!”

 

Leslie nodded, “Righ-Look out!!!”

 

Flash turned his head and barely had time to react. Hurtling towards them were no less than five of the Captain’s explosives. Flash spun his arms at his feet as fast he could, creating a strong gust of wind. This launched him backwards. As he soared past her Barry hooked his arm around Leslie's waist and he ran her out of the way. One boomerang embedded itself in the window of the building they had been standing under. It ticked for a second and a half before exploding, littering glass shards down below. Two boomerangs hit the pavement around where they had been. When they exploded the ground became a jagged chasm that led into the slim sewers of Central. Another one hit a thankfully empty car, causing it to go up in flames. The last one hit a lamp post and exploded in the air.

 

Flash growled. He knew he had to keep his emotions in check but it was getting more and more difficult to do so as the madman before him continued to harm people. It certainly didn’t help that it was hitting so close to home. His family and his co-workers... He’s just thankful Iris had lured the man out as it would have been virtually impossible to fight the man if he’d still been in the small shop. Not to mention he would have had plenty of hostages, and Boomerang would have had one of his infamous temper tantrums no matter what happened. Boomerang being the manchild that he was cussed and screamed as he threw more of his iconic weapons at The Flash. Without thinking Barry spun around and around, using his powers to create a vertex. The boomerangs hit the torrent of wind and were thrown back into the air. When Flash stopped spinning they fell, and he found himself thankful that they were the slice-y ones instead of the exploding ones, as odd as that sounds. More due to the fact that it eliminated the chance of more property damage rather than preferring one type of death boomerang over another.

 

Flash sped forward, getting as close to Boomerang as he could. The man had a quick reaction time and sliced at Barry’s head. Barry ducked, falling to his knees and leaning back to avoid the blow. The weapon was close enough that he could hear the noise it made as it sliced the air. To the Captain’s credit he might have gotten closer to hitting the speedster had his ribs not been so bruised from the earlier kick. Flash let himself fall to his back and began to backspin. Launching his legs out he windmilled, feeling his feet connecting against Boomerang several times, causing the other man to fall back. The Captain caught himself however and was back on his feet in a matter of seconds. He charged towards Flash, one of the bladed boomerangs held high in the air. Barry launched himself back to his feet and high kicked at the Captain’s hand, knocking the weapon out of the man’s hand. He then bent his leg around the super criminals arm in a vice grip and allowed himself to fall to that knee, bringing the Captain down with him. Barry spun quickly so that he was straddling the Captain’s back and grabbed the man by the wrists and pulled. He held the man’s arms between his shoulder blades as an officer ran over with handcuffs. Once Captain Boomerang was secured Barry got up and allowed the officer to escort the man to the police cruiser. Looking around he saw Janet and Ken being loaded into an ambulance. Seeing that everything was sorting itself out he sped up the side of the building he’d left his wife and nephew on so he could get the down.

* * *

 

Four hours later Len Snark, also known as Captain Cold, sat in the cafeteria of the prison. He along with several other felons sat huddled around the small TV watching the video that one miss Iris Allen had taken. He cringed a little when she introduced herself and gave the time and date. Her voice alone was overall considered a bad omen to the Rogues. It had become a rule of thumb between the Rogues not to take her hostage anymore. Either The Flash would come and rescue her or she’d rescue herself. Whatever happened it usually didn’t end well for Rogues once this particular woman got involved. There had been a time in which Captain Cold had wondered what the connection between the Speedster and the woman was, but then he realized it was probably in his best interest not to pursue it. It was one thing when Flash was joking around and a whole nother when he was silent during a fight.

 

Cold rubbed his eyes as the camera shook again. Obviously someone inexperienced was behind it. The damned woman had probably just grabbed whoever she could to hold it. Frankly the jitteriness was giving Cold a headache. Ignoring it he paid rapt attention to the scene being displayed. Boomerang had thrown one of his temper tantrums again. Not only that but he tried to rob a clocksmith of all things. That practically oozed of desperation. As the villain watched his underling he saw something he didn’t like. Boomerang, in his maddened state, had tried to attack a female officer who was attempting to get a child out of the immediate area.

 

The inmate next to him jumped a little when Cold stood abruptly and stomped off. Looking at his friend the inmate jabbed a thumb in Cold’s direction, “What’s that guy’s problem?”

 

The other inmate shrugged, “The Rogues got standards. They don’t do anything involving drugs, and they don’t hurt ladies or kids. Anything else is fair game to ‘em.”

 

As Cold walked down the corridors of the prison he thought of the many gruesome things he’d want to do to Boomerang once he got here tomorrow. When he’d let the Austrailian join the gang he had given the other man three simple rules. He broke rule two by impaling that woman's shoulder. Cop or not it was the overall belief of the Rogues that hurting women in any capacity was just plain wrong. Sure stealing and doing mercenary work was wrong as well, but that was completely different! Cold especially hated violence towards women. So not only did he break one rule but he was clearly going to break it again, but he was going to break the third rule as well. For once Cold was thankful for The Flash being around, for the sake of that kid if nothing else.

 

Yes, when Digger Harkness got here he had some choice words for him. Hopefully Digger understood the language of fists.

* * *

 

It was night now and the Allen-West household were all getting ready for bed at this point. The day had been a scare but now that they were all together things were better. Safer. After finding out that their mother and cousin had been in trouble and that they hadn’t been there to protect them Don and Dawn were being particularly hard on themselves. They tried making up for it in their own ways, Don cooked dinner and Dawn had done the washing up. They were all practically joined at the hip for the first few hours, just wanting to be together. They’d all squeezed onto the couch, a feat that may prove impossible by the time of Wally’s next growth spurt, and watched a particularly bad zombie movie. It was so bad it was actually pretty funny. After the halfway point the kids began chattering excitedly, Wally asking his older cousins what his school was like. The closeness helped wash away the fear and replace it with calm relief. Eventually though the movie ended and it was late. Don and Dawn stretched before wandering off to their respective rooms. Iris got up as well but stopped when she noticed Barry wasn’t following her. Turning she smiled at the sight before her.

 

“Aww,” she cooed as she looked at Wally. The preteen had fallen asleep at some point, and his head was resting against his Uncle’s arm as he snored softly.

 

A smile tugged at Barry’s lips, “You go on up, I’m gonna have to carry kiddo to bed.” She nodded and made her way up the stairs, letting out a loud yawn as she went. Carefully Barry scooped up the boy, and carried him upstairs. It took him a moment to open the door but he got it eventually. The floor creaked under his feet as he carried Wally to his bed. Silently he set the boy down and covered him with the yellow blanket that had been pushed up against the wall. As Barry made his way to the door Wally woke up a bit.

 

“Uncle Barry?”

 

Barry turned, his hand on the door frame, “Yeah kiddo?”

 

“What time is it?”

 

Barry squinted, trying to remember what the small clock above the TV had said, “I think it’s about… ten? Yeah, that sounds about right.”

 

“Can I see your watch?”

 

Barry smiled sadly at that. If he had made the time to get the watch himself Wally and Iris wouldn’t have had to go through what they did. Barry had been in the middle of work when he received the distress signal, and much to his own distress he had to go back after he helped jail Captain Boomerang. That left Iris needing to return to the store after everything had happened. Despite this Barry found himself walking back over to Wally and handing the boy his pocket watch. Wally flipped it open and watched the second hand tick away for a moment. He slid his thumb up and down the inside of the lid as he examined the words inside.

 

_To my beloved husband, Henry_

_Sincerely yours, Nora._

 

Wally looked up at Barry, “Is Henry my great uncle?”

 

Barry nodded, “By marriage. He’d probably let you call him Pop-pop though; That’s what the twins call him afterall. Maybe you can meet him on the next visitation day, if you want.”

 

Wally smiled at that. After a moment he narrowed his eyes in thought. He closed the pocket watch, letting his fingers get tangled in the silver chain as he gave it one last hard look. Eventually he handed it back to Barry, a thought leaving his mouth as he did so.

 

“Don said that your watch is going to be his someday.”

 

“That’s right.”

 

“Why?”

 

Barry tucked the watch into his pants pocket as he spoke, “It tends to be a custom, for fathers to give their sons their watches.”

 

“What about Dawn,” the boy queried.

 

“Well, you know that jade-bead necklace that your Aunt is always wearing?” Wally nodded so that Barry would continue, “That necklace is very important to Iris. It was your great grandma’s. When she died she left it for Iris and when Iris does the same, as everyone does, she’s going to leave it for Dawn.”

 

Wally smiled at that before jokingly asking what he’d get. Barry surprised him with an answer, “That’s a good question. In fact, not to long ago the four of us were talking about it and Iris decided we should give you our wedding rings one day.”

 

This floored Wally, “Wha-what?”

 

Barry chuckled as he spun his ring with his thumb absentmindedly, “We figured that since we were giving the twins something important to us that we should do the same for you. I mean, you’re family too.’

 

Barry reached over and ruffled Wally’s hair, “After all you’ll grow up and meet some nice girl one day, I’m sure.”

 

Wally looked like he wanted to cry to Barry, but since he was a preteen boy he probably wouldn’t allow himself to do so. Barry decided to save the boy’s dignity and not say anything of it. Then he changed his mind and kissed Wally on his forehead with a simple ‘Good night’ before getting up. Wally squaked, complaining that he wasn’t a five year old as he rubbed his forehead in disgust. Barry did his best not to laugh as he closed the door behind him. A few seconds later Barry was crawling into bed next Iris. As she rolled over and snuggled into his side he took his watch out of his pajama pocket and his ring off his finger, and set them on the nightstand.  

 

“My big old sappy Speedster,” she giggled having heard the conversation. Barry hummed contently in response, his arm looping around her shoulders to pull her closer.

* * *

 

About a week later Barry had a rude awakening. He had been sleeping soundly stomach down when Iris had decided that simply shaking him awake wouldn't be enough. Already fully dressed she jumped back on the bed and swung a leg over Barry. Straddling his hips she started smacking his back lightly as she yelled “Get up,” over and over. Barry groaned as he glared up at her and almost cringed at her bright smile. With a whine in his voice he asked, “Why?”

 

She placed the palms of her hands against his spine lightly and chided, “It’s their first day of school, I have work and you need to drive Wally.”

 

Barry grunted in acknowledgment as she slid off of him. He hadn’t had to drive his kids to school since the twins were fourteen, which was not only when they’d gain full control over their powers, but also two years ago. Wally however didn’t have superspeed and therefore couldn’t run to the edge of the city where his school was located. Since Iris had to go in early today, and Barry had off from both his job and League business today he was chosen to be the one to take Wally in. Given how notoriously bad the school bus transportation system was they were probably giving Wally a blessing in disguise by not forcing him into one of the bright yellow vehicles on his first day.

 

After he got dressed and made it down stairs he spared a brief glance over to Dawn and Wally. They were wrestling for the bathroom and had Barry not just woken up he would have told Dawn to go easy on him. She had combat training after all, which made the fight rather one sided. Barry shook his head with a smile before walking into the kitchen. There was Don, cooking as usual. Over the past year the teen had sort of made it his job to cook breakfast. He held out a greasy paper bag to his mother as she charged past him. With her coat firmly on she grabbed her breakfast and ran out the door, but not before stopping briefly to give Barry a peck on his cheek. When Barry sat down Don carried a plate over to him, before going back to the stove. An amused look spread across Barry’s face when Dawn walked over to the table with a scowl on her face.

 

“How’d he get past you?”

 

“Ducked under my legs,” she grumbled. A loud, extremely fake laugh could be heard from the bathroom. Dawn slapped her palm against the table with a pout, “When you get another growth spurt it won’t be so easy!”

 

The morning went like it typically did in the household

* * *

 

Wally waved goodbye to Barry as he exited the car. Barry smiled with a nod and drove off. The boy watched until the car turned around the corner a few blocks away, out of sight. Turning he looked the school over with a deep breath. Barry had dropped him off near the courtyard, he was just a bit away from a large crowd of students. He looked at them all, shuffling from foot to foot unsure of what to do. His answer arrived in the form of yelling. Wally watched in amazement as a boy on the other side of the street with shoulder length auburn hair lost complete control of his bike. The boy hit the curb of someone’s driveway roughly and was launched over said someone’s recycling bin and straight into the open garbage can next to it. Head first. Wally cringed out of sympathy as the gathering of kids began to laugh at the boy’s misfortune. Wally spared a moment to glare at them before running across the street. He hooked his arms around the other boy’s waist and tugged him up as best he could, avoiding the flailing legs. When the boy was finally free from the can Wally let go of him.

 

The boy shook his head and patted his arms and shirt down in disgust before looking at Wally with a smile, “Wow, man! You’re a lifesaver,” the boy paused for a moment and looked Wally over, “Hey, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you around before.”

 

Wally nodded absentmindedly, “Yeah, I’m kinda new to town. My name’s Wally. Wally West. You?”

 

The boy trotted over to pick up his bike as he spoke, “I’m Hartley Rathaway. Nice to meet ya.”

 

“You OK?”

 

“Oh, yeah, yeah. I’m fine,” Hartley smiled as he rolled his bike towards the school. As the first bell rang and the two boys walked over to the nearest bike rack Wally felt significantly less worried about his first day of school.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N2: I was tearing my hair out trying to figure out how to include Hunter Zolomon into the story. For a long time I was just going to not include his character. A few days after I came up with the Rose family and came up with a story for Iridiana I realized that I could have them be his adopted family. I was so happy when I came up with that idea ‘cause I really really wanted to include him but I was certain that I wasn't going to be able to beforehand. His backstory with his biological parents in the comics still applies here, but it won’t be exactly the same.
> 
> As a side note I’d like to point out that everything involving the Flaming C is amazing.
> 
> A/N3: Similarly to Harley Quinn, the characters Más y Menos first appeared in a cartoon (Teen Titans 2003 in this case) and were later integrated into the comics. Unlike Harley they weren’t immensely popular and were dropped after just a few appearances. The only thing we learn about them in terms of origin is that they’re from Guatemala. My versions of Don and Dawn are composite characters of both sets of twins. However the only thing we really have to go on with their personalities is that Dawn is fiery and Don is calm so trying to construct personalities from just that is kinda difficult. Please tell me if you think their characterizations are good so far.
> 
> A/N4: While this isn’t the first fight scene I’ve written it is one of the first times I tried to make it high intensity before. I’d love feedback on what you guys thought of it. Also In case you were wondering Wally was the one videotaping the fight.


	13. Recreation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Time skip! From this point onwards the story will have timestamps similar to the ones seen in Young Justice Animated. All the previous chapters took place during the summer of 2001. It should be noted that Hartley is sixteen, and that he started school one or two years later than usual due to complications.

Central City, Missouri

January 3rd 2004, 5pm

Danville, Allen-West Residence

  
  


Wally had simply been trying to locate the extra laptop charger when he found  _ it _ . There really wasn’t a reason for him to notice  _ it  _ in the first place. The thing was just an old book. A small book with a brown cover, and loose, tattered pages sticking out unevenly. All in all, a dull object. Yet something drew him to it. Almost like something was whispering in his ear, edging him on so that he would take it. Upon opening it, he couldn’t put it down. It was a journal… with a very interesting secret inside.

 

* * *

 

Central City, Missouri

January 11th 2004, 2pm

East End, Skate Park 

“C’mon Hartley, please,” Wally begged his friend.

“Why do you need these… And why can’t you get them from wherever it is you usually get your chem sets?”

“‘Cause…” Wally trailed off as his words became low, almost inaudible mumbles. 

Leaning forward Hartley cupped his hand next to his ear, “I’m sorry what?”

“Ugh, because I can’t usually get them in stores and it’s hard to get them elsewhere without looking suspicious… and also because I don’t have the money. Also I’m thirteen which just makes this more difficult. So, as I’ve wined before, ‘Please!’”

Hartley scoffed before going back to tune the old guitar he had been given for his birthday. The older boy had saved up money, and acquired a volkswagen microbus, also known as a hippie van to many, in a failed attempt to enrage his father. They were currently parked near a baseball field. Personally, Wally loved the microbus. The seats were all super comfortable, and all their friends could carpool thanks to it. Plus it reminded Wally of Blue Valley, a town which was perpetually stuck somewhere between the 50’s and 70’s.

“One, you still haven’t told me what they’re for, and two, why should I do this?”

“One, for an experiment, and two you’re ri-”

Hartly quickly cut in, “My parents are rich.”

Wally took in a deep, and very annoyed, breath before speaking again, “Your parents are rich, you’ve never gotten me anything for my birthday, which is in a few days by the way, ever.  And they’ll probably not notice if you take money from them.”

With a quirked eyebrow and a shit eating grin Hartley asked, “So you want me to steal from my parents?”

“Why do you care? You’re always trying to screw them over,” the younger teen pointed out as he threw his arms into the air.

“Damn straight I am!”

“Anyway, do you think you could help me out. Please?”

“Wal-”

“Please,” the West boy wined loudly.

“Alright! Alright! But I have one condition, alright little bro?”

Wally crossed his arms, “And that would be?”

“You don’t blow yourself up,” the older teen said matter of factly. Wally’s sharp intake of breath didn’t go unnoticed by Hartley. Pinching the bridge of his nose he asked, “You’re not actually trying to blow yourself up, are you?”

Rubbing the back of his head Wally said, “Not blowing up per say… I can probably promise that I won’t get caught on fire though!”

Extending his hand out expectantly Wally gave Hartley a big grin. Had anyone else grinned that wide it would have looked uncanny. On Wally however, it looked natural. In fact, it was so big and goofy that whenever he broke it out, he’d often find people agreeing with him. For example, it only took a few seconds for Hartley’s expression to change from an almost authoritative glare to utter defeat.

“One solid reason why I should,” In a last moment of defiance. Wally shrugged, “‘Cause we’re both mini mad scientists with morals? Look man, what I’m trying to do… I can help people. It’ll be great!”

Taking Wally’s hand and giving it a firm shake Hartley said, “Fine, just don’t get yourself killed.”

Wally laughed at his friend’s expense. Hartley just scoffed again and continued to tune the guitar. Wally fell back on the seat and just layed there. He tapped his fingers on his knee as he listened to the radio drone on. Then a thought crossed his mind.

“Hey, bro?”

“Hmm?”

“Do you ever have people come up to you because they think you’re a dealer? You know, ‘cause of the car?” To emphasize his point he knocked his fist against the window a couple of times.

  
A deflated sigh escaped Hartley as he spoke, “You have no idea.”

* * *

 

Central City, Missouri

January 22nd 2004, 6pm

Danville, Allen-West Residence

Dawn looked at the letter with a venomous expression. It was another rejection note. She huffed angrily and crumbled the piece of paper up in a furry. Then tossed it across the room. That didn’t quell her anger any, so she ended up propping her feet up atop the coffee table and crossed her arms. Her eyes set in a glare towards the general direction of the letter. She didn’t even avert her eyes when she heard the door slam open. 

“Hey, Dawn!”

“Hi, Wawa.”

“Ugh, don’t call me that,” the boy groaned. Dawn heard the thudding of his feet as he walked up the steps.

“To be honest, I’d get mad if people called me that too.”

This actually caused Dawn to look behind her. She swiveled on the couch, so that she was sitting on her knees and her chin and arms rested on the backrest. When she confirmed that the boy was in fact Hartley she allowed herself to surprised. It wasn’t the fact that her younger cousin’s friend was here. No, that was normal. It was the fact that she could barely see his face past all the boxes.

“Are you moving in again?”

He gave her a confused look, “Huh?”

“Like, did you get into an argument with your parents again?”

Hartley blinked a few times, then looked at the boxes for a long moment. Suddenly an awkward laugh erupted from the teenager as he realized what she was talking about. Quickly he shook his head.

“No, no, no. This is just chem stuff for Little Bro.”

“Why’s he making you carry it all?”

He gave her a funny look, “D-Did you really not notice him carrying all those boxes upstairs to his room?”

“...Um…”

He laughed again, “Man, you’re really oblivious sometimes.”

All Dawn could do was stick her tongue out at the boy as he hauled the boxes up a flight of stairs. She turned around in her seat again. At first she tried to remember what she was mad about before, but it just wasn’t coming to mind. Instead she turned on the TV and flipped through it nonchalantly. 

* * *

 

Central City, Missouri

January 24th 2004, 7pm

Danville, Allen-West Residence

  
  


Don leaned against the wall, observing his cousin. The kid had been sitting by the front door for most of the day. The added fact that it was a Saturday just made it even weirder. Finally Don decided to just ask.

“Wally, what are you doing?”

“I ordered something online that’s gonna help me do something really cool.”

“When did you order it?”

“Yesterday, why?”

Don rubbed his forehead in irritation, “Wally, whatever you ordered probably won’t even be in Central yet. Besides, I thought the mail service people didn’t work the weekends. You’ll probably get it on Monday, at the earliest.”

As if on cue, the doorbell rang.

Wally gave Don a shiteating grin, “You were saying?”

Don shook his head and walked away.

* * *

 

Central City, Missouri

January 27th 2004, 9pm

Danville, Allen-West Residence

Even before he found the book, Wally knew they were hiding something. They were horrible at it. They’d stammer, pause for unnecessary lengths of time, and sometimes their excuses for things just made no sense. Then there was the fact that Don, Dawn, and Uncle Barry would sometimes come home bruised. Don and Dawn weren’t the kind of kids who would just pick fights with others, and Barry worked in a Forensics Lab all day. There was no excuse for them to be getting injured. To make things even weirder, the bruises and scratches wouldn’t be there for as long as they should have been. Then of course, was all of Barry’s “business trips.” Wally wasn’t sure, but he didn’t think Law Enforcers really did such a thing as much as Barry did.

So, all in all, Wally’s been suspicious for a long. He even considered the secret that had been hidden within the journal as a possibility. Only in passing moments though. Despite the odd world he has lived in, Wally had always passed it off as a silly notion. Even when the proof had been right in front of his eyes, something always kept him from fully believing it. It seemed impossible that he’d be connected to something so amazing. But here the truth was, firmly grasped in his hands. 

His Uncle Barry was The Flash, and Don and Dawn were The Tornado Twins. 

That’s what the journal told him. It also had detailed notes about the day of Barry’s accident. The day that changed him forever back when he was in college. It spoke of the chemicals that had been there, and of the almost impossible chance of a lightning bolt crashing through a window and onto a rack of those chemicals. Which proceeded to spill onto a young Barry Allen. So, when Wally had read the little journal of truth he was surprised… over his lack of surprise over the situation. That soon turned to determination. Currently he was alone in the house. Iris was at work and the twins and Barry were who knows where. He sat on the porch, looking up at the sky. The weather report had said there was a chance of a lightning storm tonight. So he waited, and watched as the clouds grew darker and more clustered. Then it happened, a thunder clap, and a flash of light.

He got up and ran up to his room, slamming the door behind him. Wally has had all the chemicals he needed for some time now. Iris had gotten curious at one point, asking when he’d gotten so much stuff. Wally told her that Hartley had gotten him the stuff and that they were going to use it to make stink bombs. When she asked why he explained they were going to use them to ruin a party that Mister and Misses Rathaway were going to throw in a few weeks. Instead of trying to stop her nephew she just nodded and said, “I know what job I’m not taking then.” While this might have seemed odd for a parent to do, it was actually quite understandable in the right context. The Allen-West family hated the couple just as much as their own son did.  

Wally actually felt bad about lying to Iris, but that wasn’t going to stop him. This was something he had to do. He needed this. Wally knew that if his mother was here she’d be furious at first, but she’d be proud of his decision after a while. He only hoped the rest of his family would be the same. Wally took in a deep breath, trying to reassure himself. He nodded, then ducked to get the box from under his bed. Had he taken it out before the storm, his family would have realized what he was trying to do. Well, Barry would at the very least.

When he opened the box Wally just looked at the object inside. It was metallic and sleek. Shiny in it’s newity. He didn’t technically need it. He could just put the little thing away and wait for  _ it  _ to happen. However, having this object wouldn’t leave what he was trying to do up to chance. Wally looked at the rod for a long moment, having a brief moment of apprehension. The boy shook his head, trying to dispel the feeling. He walked over to the desk he kept all of his chemistry sets on, the one he’d pushed by the window earlier that day. Instead of putting the rod on it’s stand right away he continued to hold it as he reached over the beakers. He unlatched the lock and pushed the window open.

Thunder clapped…

...then lightning struck…. 

  
…and Wally was sent flying backwards, the rod still clutched tightly in his hands.


	14. Empowerment

Central City, Missouri

January 27th 2004, 9pm

Danville, Allen-West Residence

 

Barry had been out with Superman and Wonder Woman that day. The League at this point in time really didn’t have many magic users except for Zatara, whom was rarely ever actually around. This meant that Barry and Diana were the only ones the Kryptonian would find much of a challenge in. Well, with fighting at least. Batman and The Question were actually pretty kickass at chess. Poor Supes always lost, but that was besides the point. You see, they’d just gotten done with training and Barry had offered to cook them some food like the good senior hero he was. After an obligatory crack about his diet they agreed and had all made it back to Central. After changing into their civvies they footed it to his house. Almost in conjunction with them turning the corner onto his street, lightning had struck the house. Not just any part of the house... It had struck Wally’s room, and exploded.

 

“Wally… Oh god, Wally!”

* * *

The boy groaned as he lay on his back, blinking up at the ceiling. He lifted the lightning rod up into the air and glared at it for a moment, pushing the blame from himself to the piece of metal. He knew it would hurt but he didn’t think it’d hurt  _ that _ much. He threw it under his bed in anger, not wanting to look at it anymore. His whole body felt tingly, and he wasn’t sure if it was good thing or not. His brain was yelling for him to move, move, move, but his body was in some legitimate pain. Staying on the floor so that he wouldn’t have to stretch his sore body was just fine in his book. Wally barely noticed the gush of wind that came moments before being scooped up into someone’s arms.

 

“Wally! Kiddo, are you alright?”

 

He looked up at his Uncle as his vision started to blur, “I feel really weird,” he tried 

 

“That’d be the lightning I’d assume,” said an understanding male voice.

 

Wally glanced at the doorway and saw both a familiar man and woman, both in their usual suits, “Hi Mr.Kent, Ms. Prince.”

 

Barry was spazzing out but Wally’s vision was fading in and out to much to notice, “OK… OK! We need to get you to the hospital! Wait, are those beakers on the floor? Did they hit you? Oh god, if they hit you I might not be able to take you to the hospital! You might be a - Wait! I can have Doctor Palmer take a look at you, he knows about us! I just gotta call-”

Ms. Prince spoke up, “Barry! You need to calm down.”

 

“Calm down?! One of my kids just got struck by  _ lightning _ , he could have  _ died _ ! For all I know he still  _ might  _ die!”

 

Mr. Kent put his arms up defensively, “She’s right. You freaking out isn’t going to help anything. Let’s get him someplace safe, like The Hall, and call this doctor friend of yours, OK?”

 

“R-right. You’re both right,” the man said as he scooped his child up in his arms, “Let’s go!”

* * *

 

Washington D.C.

January 27th 2004, 9pm

The Hall of Justice

Wally remembered Doctor Palmer. He was fairly sure that the brown haired man was the family's personal doctor. Whenever Dawn, Don or Barry needed a check up they never went to the hospital. Instead this man would come, and do what needed to be done. Then leave just as quickly. The man had never done a check up on Wally though. The boy would go to the hospital for check ups just like Iris would. Honestly, it felt strange to be the center of the man’s attention.

“This is going to hurt for just a second.”

“That’s what you said the other eight times - Yeow!”

Wally rubbed his shoulder and glared at the man. The man had taken blood from him a total of nine times now, and boy was Wally sick of that. He didn’t like needles at the best of times. Yes, he knew this whole process was necessary, but that didn’t mean he had to like it. Which he didn’t. At all. Still, he waited there patiently. Or at least what counted as patient in his family.

Doctor Palmer sighed as he watched the boy tap his foot up and down. He knew full well that even if the kid wasn’t a Speedster that he’d definitely inherited the iconic attitude. Probably thanks to living with a bunch of them. The doctor put the blood samples into a machine of his own creation. The small contraption had been designed to detect any active metagenes in a person. It was new, but thanks to the League, and the Society he was able to test it fairly quickly and prove that it did indeed work. Heck, even the Doom Patrol pitched in with the experiment. 

Doctor Palmer looked to the boy, then to the machine, and then back at the boy. He’d need at least twenty, if not thirty minutes for the results to come. The man scratched the back of his head, unsure of what to do. Superman and Wonder Woman were currently keeping Flash from storming in. If Flash was in the room Palmer knew that he’d be backseat driving the whole process. After all, if there was anything Palmer truly knew about The Flash, it’s that the man's name was actually Barry and that he was extremely protective over his children. Palmer noticed the glare that Wally was giving him and decided that he might as well get the questioning over with.

“So - Um… Wally, right? How’re you feeling?”

“Like shit.”

“You’re a bit of a potty mouth, aren’t you?”

“That one isn’t even that bad.”

“That doesn’t really have anything - I mean… I guess I should be more specific.  How’s your appetite?”

Wally hugged his stomach, ”I could eat a horse.”

Palmer looked at Wally for a moment, wondering if the boy was embarrassed or something. After a few seconds he walked over to the cupboard and started digging around. He managed to find a box of granola bars and tossed it to Wally, who immediately ripped it open. They were currently in the cafeteria of The Hall of Justice, and Palmer didn’t like it one bit. For one, it was the place that made the absolute least sense to give someone a medical check up in, and two, because it was a tourist attraction. People would come from all around the world just to look through the big, three story windows. This place had once been the Society’s headquarters, but most of them were retired and the the League decided to choose a much more hidden HQ in the forms of Mt. Justice down in Palo Alto and The Watchtower in New York City. All in all, Palmer didn’t feel safe here, even with three of Earth’s “mightiest heroes” waiting in the hallway. 

Palmer shook the thoughts from his mind and continued the line of questioning, “Do you feel more active than usual?”

“Yeah. Well, more active than a person who was struck by lightning probably should be feeling,” the boy said with a mouthful of granola.

_ “Yep, definitely inherited the Speedster table manners from them,” _ the doctor thought to himself. Trying not to show the disgust on his face Palmer continued, “Alright. Do things seem like they're moving slower to you.”

“I don’t know. It depends on whether or not that clock is slow.”

“It isn’t.”

“Then yeah, I guess so.”

Palmer gave him a concerned look, “I see…”

Eventually the doctor ran out of legitimate need to know questions. However he didn’t want the remainder of time to pass in awkward silence, so he began asking about other things. Like grades, and hobbies, and how the rest of the family was doing. Palmer truly was struggling, he had no idea how to handle children.

“Um… I know! How are the twins going?”

No response. Looking away from his machine he spared a glance at Wally. At least where Wally was suppose to be. He was gone, the only thing he’d left behind was the empty granola box and a bunch of wrappers. The machine beeped before giving out the results in a robotic voice, “Subject tests 90%  _ positive _ for having active  _ metagenes _ . Probability of 62.5% that subject can be defined as a  _ Speedster.” _

“While data is inconclusive on the subject it should be known that the subject may also have the abilities of  _ Molecular Oscillation, Quantum Phasing, Accelerated Thinking, Super Strength, Aerokinesis, Regenerative Healing, Photon Healing, Vibration Emission,  _ and  _ Self-Telekinesis _ among other potential side abilities _ ,  _ as these are all abilities often associated with Super Speed. It should be noted however that it is highly unlikely that the subject will have obtained all of these abilities.”

Palmer just stared at the machine blankly.

* * *

 

Doctor Palmer had at one point zoned out, which had been all Wally needed. He really, really didn’t like doctors. He’d seen too many late night horror movies with evil surgeons to feel comfortable around actual doctors. Wally solely blamed Dawn on that account. As Wally walked through the various pathways he realized more and more that he had no idea where he was going, let alone where he was. When he’d first snuck out of the room he’d heard his Uncle talking with some people, and booked it in the other direction. Not because he thought he was in trouble, but because he’d wanted to explore. He continued onwards, searching through every room he could. They were mostly boring to be honest. Either having nothing in them, or having a bunch of old crates - There really wasn’t much to explore in terms of interesting. That is until he found a giant double door. Tall enough to reach the ceiling and the metal bits rusting all around. Wally quirked an eyebrow and smirked.

* * *

“He’s gone!”

Palmer flinched as one Barry Allen began to have, for lack of a better term, a massive freakout. If there was anything to know about the man, it’s that he was insanely protective of his family. If his family wasn’t someplace he could get to easily, he’d become somewhat spastic. So as Barry yelled things like “How could you have lost him?!” Palmer simply gave Superman and Wonder Woman a pleading look. The only answer he received was a glare from the Amazon and a very animated shrug from the Kryptonian. Palmer pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. He raised his voice to what he hoped was a high enough volume to be heard over Barry’s rantings.

“He’s also tested positive to being a Speedster.”

This shut Barry up, for a moment anyway. While this would be the time where most people would stand dumbfounded with their mouth opening and closing like a pet goldfish that would eventually end its journey by being flushed down a toilet, Barry’s brain was already well past that stage. Unfortunately for Palmer that meant he was back to freaking his shit out. Barry was quite literally vibrating with worry. Palmer sighed again as he scratched the back of his head. He most certainly wasn’t the most emotional person in the world, making situations like this were simply awkward for the man. The doctor spared another pleading glance towards the alien. Palmer had heard it told many a time that Superman was almost as much a boy scout as Barry, if not more so. The blue-clad man thankfully caught the doctor’s expression.

Putting a hand on the older man’s shoulder he said, “Now Barry, this building is pretty big and easy to get lost in. He’s probably still here… somewhere.”

“Huh? Y-yeah! You’re right,” he said frantically before running off, checking every room he could.

Palmer sighed once more, this time in relief. He picked his bag up off the coffee table and started heading towards the direction of the Zeta Tubes. Before he could even take a third step he felt a hand grip the back of his collar and before he knew it he was suspended a few inches off the ground. He could just barely feel the glare burning into the back of his skull.

“Where do you think you’re going,” Wonder Woman asked angrily.

Palmer narrowed his eyes. He was annoyed that his current position made it impossible for him to have visual contact with the woman. Despite that he resigned himself to simply look at the long dead house fern in front of him as he spoke, “I don’t see why you’re so angry with me. I did my job, did I not? I’ve got  _ other  _ meta-humans waiting for a doctor! Now let. Me. Go.”

The warrior scoffed before dropping him. He watched her fly off to search for the boy before patting the creases out of his coat. As he did so the transporter flitted him somewhere far away where a new patient was waiting. Wonder Woman caught up to Superman, who simply floated in place as he watched the older man run about. The Flash had been understandably using his powers to check each room. Given the baffled look on the Kryptonian’s face she could guess that he’d given up checking the rooms. In fact, every time Superman had been about to check a room himself The Flash had zoomed in past him and was out again in a matter of seconds. 

“Let’s um… just move further down, yeah?”

Wonder Woman nodded in agreement. 

* * *

Wally walked around the room with his mouth agape and near starstruck wonder in his eyes. This was  _ the  _ room where the Justice Society once held meetings. A round table with many chairs were the first known generation of guardians had gathered stood in the center of the room. Wally wiped his hand across the silver, metallic table and was genuinely surprised when an entire layer of thick dust covered the palm of his hand. He stared at his hand for a moment, wondering why a place that was so important was so under cared for. Shaking his head he wiped the dust off onto his jeans and pulled out his phone with the other one.

Checking briefly to see if the lightning bolt had fried more than just him Wally clicked the on button. He let out a sigh of relief when his phone successfully turned on and almost immediately began snapping pictures of the room. First of the table then of the huge consol across the room. Wally knew full well that the giant computer-esque construct had been extremely advanced for it’s time, but by today’s standards it gave off a very “lost technology” vibe. He snapped more pictures with enthusiasm, unaware of the two heroes making their entrance.

“There you are,” Clark sighed with relief.

Wally’s eyes widened in surprise for a moment before they landed on the pair. When he saw them a large grin spread across his face. He ran over to them at a thankfully still normal pace and hooked his arms around the woman's waist.

Diana hugged him back, “Why hello to you too.”

Wally laughed as he looked up at the tall woman, “Does that mean you guys are in on it too?”

Clark quirked an eyebrow at this, “What do you mean by that?”

At the same time Wally opened his mouth to speak Barry collided into Clark's back. At superspeed. The force was enough to cause the alien to stumble a few feet forward, while Barry fell backwards with a rather loud thud as he landed butt first on the floor. Wally laughed once more as he saw his Uncle rub his nose in mild pain before going over and offering the blonde man his hands.

“Thanks,” Barry said as he allowed the boy to haul him to his feet. Then he realized who he was talking to and he filled with worry and anger and fear which was like worry but somehow different.

“What did you think you were doing?!”

“You make it sound like I did it on purpose,” the boy said nonchalantly.

Barry had no reason to believe the boy did. Unfortunately the boy’s nonchalance about the whole thing and the unlikelihood that it was a coincidence made it seem like he had done it on purpose. Even then, how could Wally know the formula, let alone get the chemicals for it? Those didn’t come in the kits you get at the mall. Still, Barry had to ask. “Did you?”

Wally just shook his head, causing Barry to be even more suspicious. Wally wasn’t the type of kid to lie to someone's face. During the few times Barry had witnessed him try to do so the kid got eerily quiet but no one ever questioned it because he’s got almost impossibly big puppy dog eyes that Iris insists he must get from his grandma. As one of his parental units Barry didn’t fall into the trap as easily as everyone else did. Iris didn’t fall for that all. To bad she wasn’t here.

Barry rubbed a hand across his face, “We’ll talk about  _ that _ later. Right now we have bigger things to discuss.”

“Like that I’m a Speedster.”

Diana looked down at him, “How’d you know that?”

Wally shrugged and gave her the eyes, “That’s... just what Doctor Palmer’s machine said>” He paused for a moment while his face scrunched up before he looked at his Uncle in irritation, “He poked me with a lot of needles.”

“Wally,” Barry sighed exasperated, “This is  _ really  _ serious. You understand? Things are going to be  _ different _ now. You’re going to have to train a lot and then decide what you’re going to do with that training, if anything.”

Wally  _ did  _ know that this was serious. He also knew that Barry would act serious after a panic attack or two. He didn’t know that he’d have to see Barry look at him with… fear? That  _ might _ be too strong a word. Maybe it was just anxiety. Or it really could be fear, the type of fear only a parent could feel. It was too raw of an expression for Wally to tell.

He decided not to give his uncle a hard time and nodded.

* * *

Central City, Missouri

January 27th 2004, 10pm

Danville, Allen-West Residence

The first thing Wally was made to do was listen to his Uncle explain that he was The Flash. This wasn’t a surprise, but Wally wasn’t ready to admit that yet. What did surprise him was The new knowledge that Mr. Kent and Ms. Prince were really Superman and Wonder Woman. When he saw them there in The Hall he knew that they  _ had  _ to be heroes, he just didn’t expect them to be  _ those  _ heroes. Two thirds of “The Big Three” as the media liked to call them. Although now that he looked at Mr. Kent, at Superman, he started to wonder how he didn’t make the connection. Hiding in plain sight, maybe? The second thing he was made to do was tell the rest of their family.  When Barry had taken him back to the house the three of them were waiting outside. Iris’ rust red hair was in a messy bun, and she had bags under her eyes. Dawn was hopping all over the place. Jumping, doing flips and cartwheeling, in a futile attempt to dissipate the energy that had been born from her worry. Lastly there was Don, who sat on the porch next to his mother, back rigid and face emotionless. He had shut down after he found out what had happened. 

Considering his decision to blow himself up on purpose was why they were acting like, well Wally felt more than a little guilty. When he and Barry had rounded the corner Dawn was the first to see them, and before Wally knew it he was being assaulted by one of his cousin’s bone crushing hugs. Despite the fact that that he that he was far too old to be picked up he let her carry him back to the house anyway. Soon after that they found themselves around the kitchen table, and an awkward silence filled the air. Wally sat there, wondering what on Earth he should say. He wanted Barry to not have to be the one to explain, because that wouldn’t be fair to him, Wally felt. He wanted Iris to unfold her arms, and to stop clawing at her sleeves. Partially because he thought she’d rip holes into sleeves but also because he’d rather her be yelling at him for doing something so dangerous instead of having the well hidden panic attack that was boiling underneath the surface. Wally also wanted to slap the dominoes that Don was sorting off of the table, because his cousin's attempt to pretend nothing was happening was pissing him off. He also wished that Dawn would let go of his hand because it was probably going to bruise from the force of her grip, and he was really,  _ really _ lucky that the skin on his body wasn’t roasted to a fine crisp right now. Getting out of this injury free would be a miracle.

Unfortunately Wally couldn’t think of a single damn thing to say.

“So is he… like the three of you?” It was Iris’ voice, laced with worry and cracking with effort. When Barry nodded she let out a sigh that Wally couldn’t decipher. It wasn’t relief, that much Wally could tell. So maybe it was acceptance? Wally didn’t know, he always had trouble reading his Aunt.

“He has to train,” Barry sighed. “If he wants to learn how to control his powers he has to. It was the only way I was able to. The Twins had to once their powers started to show up.”

Iris nodded before looking to the side, “Tomorrow. Start tomorrow. Let’s all just be together for now.”

Wally looked at his feet. He was ashamed for causing his family such a scare, but he had good reasons. He wanted to help people. He had resources to make himself into something that could help people, so he did. Now he had his chance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So Wally finally has his powers. I know it’s taken a long while but I needed the time to establish future characters. There’s probably some arc fatigue going on for you guys and I’m sorry. During high school I had a very busy schedule and I’m now trying to adjust to college life. Plus I’m expanding the fan universe into (currently) three more stories. Tales of The Gotham Knights, the origin of this universe’s Batman and Batwoman, Tales of Team Arrow, which is about Green Arrow and Black Canary, Tales of Wonder which is about this universe’s version of Wonder Woman. I also have a mini-story about the origins of Aquaman (yes, I am taking his character seriously), and a story about Superman, but I have no idea when either are going to happen. Neither have a name yet, but it’s safe to assume Tales will probably be in the title to some capacity. Basically what I’m saying is updating has been hard, especially after my laptop broke (for 4 months!) and I now have a policy about not updating a story until I have at least three chapters do due to the fact I personally think my chapters are short. Although for this fan-verse I might make an exception and update when three are done, but those three don’t have to be for the same story since the Tales series is all in in the same fan continuity.


	15. Discontinued

I regret to inform everyone that this version of the story has been discontinued due to personal reasons. A new version will be created so that it fits better with my fan-verse. Sorry for the inconvenience.


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